Ärna or Uppsala Air Base is an
air base
An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...
located northwest of
Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. It is a base of the
Swedish Air Force
The Swedish Air Force ( or just ) is the air force Military branch, branch of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the escalatin ...
. In 2009, it was announced that the Armed Forces had the intention to phase out its airport unit on 1 July 2010 and hand over the operation of the aerodrome to a private operator. However, on 19 December 2009, it was announced by the
Supreme Commander that the Armed Forces will continue military air operations. This is because the alternative proposals to locate the flight operations were not feasible. Since 14 October 2021,
Uppland Wing (F 16) is based at Ärna Air Base.
Commercial flights
The company Uppsala Airport AB (formerly Uppsala Air AB), formed in 2004, applied to the government for permission to start commercial aviation at Ärna. The company claimed, based on calculations made in 2009 and 2010, that in five years' time the airport could serve up to 1.6 million passengers every year. The emphasis would primarily have been on low cost flights and charter flights.
On 18 April 2011, the Environmental Court (''Miljödomstolen'') ruled that commercial air traffic at Ärna would be likely to have a significant impact on the environment, and recommended the government to decline Uppsala Airport AB's application. In June 2018, the company released a statement saying that they would withdraw their petition to use Ärna for commercial aviation.
Criticism
Strong criticism has been expressed both from several environmental organizations and local residents against opening a commercial airport at Ärna. According to a poll among people from Uppsala municipality, conducted in June 2010 by an opinion research institute on behalf of
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...
, 40% of the 576 respondents were in favour of a commercial airport while 39% were against and 21% were undecided.
See also
*
List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries
This is a list of the 100 busiest airports in the Nordic countries by passengers per year, aircraft movements per year and freight and mail tonnes per year.
The list also includes yearly statistics for the busiest metropolitan airport systems and ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arna
Buildings and structures in Uppsala County
Bases of the Swedish Air Force
Uppsala Garrison