Göteborg Landvetter Airport is an international airport serving the Gothenburg region in Sweden. With just over 6.8 million passengers in 2018 it is Sweden's second-largest airport after Stockholm–Arlanda. Landvetter is also an important freight airport. During 2007, 60.1 thousand tonnes of air cargo passed through Landvetter, about 60% of the capacity of Arlanda. The airport is named after Landvetter locality, which is in Härryda municipality. It is east-southeast of Gothenburg and west of Borås. It is operated by Swedavia, the national airport company. Since the closure of Göteborg City Airport for commercial operations, it's the city's only commercial passenger airport.
History
The airport was opened by king Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on 3 October in 1977. Passenger services, previously at Torslanda Airport, north of Gothenburg, were moved to Landvetter in 1977. In 2001, some budget airlines began serving the former military base in Säve, which was renamed from Säve Flygplats to Gothenburg City Airport. That airport was closed down in winter 2014–2015 because of large reconstruction needs, meaning an increase of traffic on Landvetter of almost a million annual passengers. There has been a tendency that international air travel has increased, especially on tourists, while domestic has declined somewhat. In 2013 the international terminal was extended significantly with new shops, and in 2014 the domestic and international terminals were joined into a single terminal. On 14 April 2015 Swedavia announced a 10-year long contract with DHL Express to build a new 7500 m2 large cargo terminal, replacing the old 1700 m2. The construction will begin in spring 2015 and is underway for one year. This was a step included in plans for Airport City. In 2018-2020 the terminal building will be enlarged, with three new air bridges. There are also plans to build a shortcut on the railway Gothenburg–Borås with a tunnel and a railway station under the airport. Construction start is planned to be 2020 and operation estimated by 2023. There has been criticism on the choice of location of the airport, which is fairly foggy, located 150 meters above sea level and often affected by low clouds. The runway direction also often means fairly strong crosswinds which can cause landings to scare passengers. In 2015 an instrument landing system CATIIIb was installed which allows landing in fairly dense fog if corresponding system is fitted onboard aircraft. Many but not all aircraft have that. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most flights were cancelled. During April 2020, only the KLM route to Amsterdam was consistently operated daily. The passenger figures were 99.5% lower in April 2020 than in April 2019.
Terminals
Landvetter Airport has traditionally had two terminals, domestic and international, but they have merged into one common terminal. In 2009 all baggage drop was moved to in the international terminal, since all baggage had to be screened with new regulations. In 2014 the two terminals joined into one with all baggage collected at the arrivals hall in the previous international terminal. The transfer area, which has several shops, cafés and a restaurant, is accessible for all passengers since that year. There are eight air bridges, at gates 12–17, 19, and 20. Gates 10–11, 18A–18H and 21C–21D transport passengers to the aircraft via an airside bus transfer. Gate 21A/B is an aircraft stand without an air bridge, with a short walk to the aircraft instead. The eight air bridges are not enough, so airside bus transfer is regularly used. Traditionally gates 10–15 used to be limited to domestic flights but nowadays cater to all flights within the Schengen Area, which are treated as domestic flights. Gates 21A–21D are located in the international transit area, used for flights outside the Schengen Area, and access is only possible after clearing immigration. Gate 19 and 20 are positionable so that, depending on upcoming flights, reaching them may or may not require clearing immigration. The freight terminal uses gate numbers below 10. The airport has a VIP area, where travellers for a fee can go through a dedicated security check, wait in the VIP lounge and be transported by car to the aircraft, avoiding mix with non VIP paying passengers. The VIP area can also hold wedding ceremonies.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Göteborg:
Cargo
Statistics
Busiest routes
Rank
Airport
Passengers handled
% change 2018/2019
1
578,789
2.6
2
404,586
4.6
3
364,424
2.2
4
275,405
6.6
5
243,310
6.4
6
236,651
0.2
7
203,314
2.8
8
187,723
24.8
9
168,937
7.9
10
159,739
15.0
11
145,195
3.8
12
123,383
22.7
13
117,898
26.8
14
117,780
2.8
15
116,427
14.5
16
100,383
37.9
17
90,179
26.3
18
78,211
93.1
19
77,148
4.6
20
73,579
26.1
21
72,833
1560.9
Rank
Airport
Passengers handled
% change 2018/19
1
1,133,378
13.2
2
30,567
5.7
3
22,044
23.1
4
9,754
32.9
5
7,398
49.4
Rank
Country
Passengers
Change 2018/19
1
Germany
867,485
5.7%
2
Spain
805,025
2.8%
3
United Kingdom
646,456
2.3%
4
Netherlands
364,675
2.2%
5
Greece
288,374
6.1%
6
Denmark
282,543
7.5%
7
Turkey
276,094
4.5%
8
Poland
259,034
4.0%
9
Finland
236,651
0.2%
10
Belgium
203,314
2.8%
Access
Bus
and Swebus takes passengers to the city of Gothenburg in 20 minutes, and in 30 minutes to Gothenburg Central station. Swebus takes passengers to Borås central station in 35–40 minutes and to Jönköping central station in 1h 50m.
