Visby Airport

Visby Airport
Visby flygplats
Summary
Airport typePublic (Luftfartsverket)
OperatorSwedavia
ServesVisby and Gotland
LocationGotland, Sweden
Elevation AMSL164 ft / 50 m
Coordinates57°39′46″N 018°20′46″E / 57.66278°N 18.34611°E / 57.66278; 18.34611
Websiteswedavia.com/visby/
Map
VBY
Location within Gotland
VBY
VBY (Sweden)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03/21 2,000 6,562 Asphalt
10/28 1,100 3,609 Grass
Statistics (2016)
Passengers total463,616
Domestic passengers448,784
European passengers11,428
Intercontinental passengers2,892
AIP[1]
Statistics: Transportstyrelsen[2][3]

Visby Airport (IATA: VBY, ICAO: ESSV), is located about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) north of Visby, Gotland, Sweden.

Visby airport is Gotland's only commercial airport and the 12th largest airport in Sweden. The airport had 463,616 passengers in 2016.[2] The traffic has a large seasonal variation, with many more passengers in the summer: in 2016, it had 18,070 passengers in January and 57,302 in July. During the Almedalen Week the airport is slot coordinated.[4]

History

Seaplanes were used for public flights to Gotland from 1925, landing in a sheltered bay near Slite, or in Lake Tingstäde.[5]

Visby Airport was opened on 27 January 1942. The first aircraft to land was a Junkers Ju 52/3m named Göteland from AB Aerotransport.[6] In October of the same year, regular traffic between Visby and the Swedish mainland started, in the beginning mostly with Ju 52s. In 1958, a new terminal building, a new control tower and a new runway made of asphalt was inaugurated. A runway also featured a railway crossing. The current terminal and control tower opened in 1985.

Tenants

The airport has been used for military activities from its opening in 1942, although not as a proper airbase, but as a detachment used by a mainland airbase. The airport has the only long runway on Gotland. Gotland and the airport are important in the event of a need to defend against an attack on NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and for general defense of the Baltic Sea.

Apart from the commercial aviation at Visby airport, there are also a flying club and a parachuting club based at the airport. Also, the Swedish Maritime Administration has a search and rescue helicopter based in Visby.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Visby Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Finnair Seasonal: Helsinki[7]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda[8]
Scandinavian Airlines Stockholm–Arlanda[9]
Seasonal: Copenhagen (begins 22 June 2026)[10]

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
PopulAir Stockholm–Arlanda[11]

Statistics

Busiest routes to and from Visby Airport (2022)[12]
Rank Airport Passengers handled % change
2021/22
1 Stockholm, Sweden[a] 259,833 49.2
2 Gothenburg, Sweden 15,011 40.3
3 Malmö, Sweden 10,346 335.8
4 Helsinki, Finland 3,396
5 Rhodes, Greece 2,339 882.8
Traffic by calendar year[13]
Year Passenger volume Change Domestic Change International Change
2025 261,982 10.7% 252,127 11.5% 9,855 14.6%
2024 293,488 7.6% 284,888 7.7% 8,600 3.3%
2023 317,506 7.8% 308,609 7.2% 8,897 32.9%
2022 294,603 55.5% 287,911 53.1% 6,692 355.9%
2021 189,482 54.4% 188,014 54.6% 1,468 31.9%
2020 122,744 72.5% 121,631 71.9% 1,113 91.8%
2019 446,764 4.5% 433,188 4.7% 13,576 1.4%
2018 467,857 4.8% 454,474 4.2% 13,383 20.3%
2017 491,446 6.0% 474,646 5.8% 16,800 13.3%
2016 463,559 7.6% 448,736 8.1% 14,823 7.4%
2015 430,977 5.9% 414,978 6.5% 15,999 7.4%
2014 406,906 15.5% 389,621 15.7% 17,285 11.6%
2013 352,197 7.6% 336,707 7.1% 15,490 20.5%
2012 327,255 314,405 12,850


Unusual railroad crossing

Before the railroad was closed down on the island of Gotland, the main line from Visby to the northern parts of the island actually crossed the runway. It was one of the few airports in the world where this happened. [14] The railway traffic was ended in 1960, and the tracks were removed a few years later.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Includes flights to/from Stockholm–Arlanda and Stockholm–Bromma

References

  1. ^ "ESSV – Visby" (PDF). AIP Sverige/Sweden. Norrköping: The LFV Group. 23 August 2012. pp. AD 2 ESSV 1-1..8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Flygplatsstatistik". Transportstyrelsen. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Statistics" (PDF). Swedavia. Retrieved 17 March 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ^ Carlsson, Anders. "Almedalsveckan sätter nya rekord i Visby". Flygtorget (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Visby Airport / History". Swedavia. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
  6. ^ Hammarhjelm, Bengt (1999). Beredskap på Gotland 175 år: 1811-1986 (in Swedish) (2nd, utök. uppl., jämte komplement till 2000 ed.). Visby: Ödin. p. 164. ISBN 91-85716-84-7. SELIBR 7751982.
  7. ^ Orban, André (9 April 2025). "Finnair expands Nordic network for Summer 2026 with new Alta route and more flights". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  8. ^ Breitfeller, Joe (16 July 2025). "Norwegian Offers a Record Number of Self-Service Kiosks and Bag Drop Counters at European Airports". Breitflyte. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  9. ^ Casey, David (25 January 2025). "Air Leap Failure Leaves Eight Routes Unserved". Aviation Week. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  10. ^ Orban, André (22 September 2025). "SAS unveils largest summer programme ever for 2026 with nine new routes, more frequencies, and expanded Swedish network". Aviation24.be. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  11. ^ "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map".
  12. ^ "Antal ankommande och avresande passagerare på Swedavias flygplatser, 2022" (XLSX). Swedavia.se. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Statistik inom Swedavia". www.swedavia.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-01-25.
  14. ^ "Gotland 65 år före Stockholm". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on November 11, 2010.

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