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Swedish police close case on Arlanda landing

Swedish police have classified Saturday's bomb threat drama at Arlanda Airport as "case closed" following the release of a suspect without charges.

Swedish police close case on Arlanda landing

“It is now case close for our part. All that remains is for the criminal investigation department to complete their report,” said Eva Bergström at Arlanda police.

A 28-year-old Canadian man of Pakistani origin was released after police questioning on Saturday evening without charge.

“He is free to go where he wants,” Karin Rosander, communications director at the regional public prosecution office, told news agency TT. “According to police, the man will receive help with accommodation for the night and then continue his trip tomorrow.”

The man was arrested earlier on Saturday for “planning to sabotage an airplane,” police operations director Stefan Rådman told AFP.

However, police in Sweden said no explosives were found in the search.

The plane, a Boeing 777 operated by Pakistan International Airlines, was on its way from Toronto to Karachi, Pakistan when it was forced to make an emergency landing at Arlanda shortly after 7.30am.

The landing was prompted after Canadian police, through the country’s air traffic authorities, contacted the pilot in the air and said that there may be a suspicious person on board.

Shortly before 7am local time, the pilot contacted air traffic control at the airport and requested landing rights, saying there was a person suspected of having explosives on board.

Passengers were evacuated from the plane and led inside the terminal two hours after landing, where they received food and assistance.

The airplane left for Manchester at 5pm local time to continue its journey to Karachi because the crew was too tired to complete the flight to Pakistan, Arlanda Airport spokesman Jan Lindqvist said.

Regular air traffic at Arlanda was unaffected by the threat. Terminals remained open as usual and all remaining flights left on schedule.

“We have so much capacity that we can put a plane to the side so that it doesn’t affect other traffic,” Anders Bredfell, press director at the airport, told TT earlier on Saturday.

Separately, Canadian police said Saturday they were looking into whether the bomb alert was a hoax. Under Canadian law, a “terrorist hoax” is a crime punishable with prison time, a spokesman with the Royal Mounted Police in Toronto, Marc Laporte, told AFP.

“It was a woman who contacted the Canadian police and said there was a man onboard who could have explosives with him. It remains unclear who the woman is,” said Hedlund.

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EXPLAINED: What can I do if I miss my flight due to Sweden’s airport chaos?

Stockholm Arlanda Airport is once again suffering hour-long queues for security due to a surge in travel and personnel shortages. What can you do if you miss your flight?

EXPLAINED: What can I do if I miss my flight due to Sweden's airport chaos?

What’s the situation at Arlanda over the Ascension Day weekend? 

According to the airport operator Svedavia, the worst peak for the long weekend is probably over. “Today looks good with no long waiting time at Arlanda,” Ellen Laurin, the company’s press officer, told The Local on Friday. “Yesterday morning [Thusday], we had a morning peak before nine in the morning, and the rest of the day was OK.” 

According to Swedavia’s website, waiting times at security were less than five minutes on Friday morning.  

However, she warned that there could once again be big queues on Sunday when those who have travelled to Sweden over the long weekend make their way home. 

“Sunday is a big travel day when people will fly home again. There could be queues at peak times,” she said. “We recommend that passengers have a close contact with their airline for information about their flight. It is important to have extra time at the airport and to be prepared.  

READ ALSO: What’s behind the queues at Arlanda Airport? 

Which airports in other countries have problems? 

Arlanda is not the only airport facing problems due to delays staffing up again after the pandemic. On Friday morning, Twitter users were complaining of two-hour queues at the border control at Heathrow Airport in the UK, while at the UK’s Manchester Airport, passengers were reporting queues for security of up to two hours on Thursday. 

Dublin Airport is also facing regular two-hour queues at security. Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport had a 1km security queue on Thursday, pushing the Dutch airline KLM to cancel flights. 

Can I get compensation or insurance payments if I missed my flight due to the queues? 

The SAS airline has already underlined that it is their customers’ responsibility to make sure that they arrive at the airport in sufficiently good time to make their flight. 

“To be certain you can come with us, you should be in good time, and if you are in good time, you will manage to get your flight,” she told state broadcaster SR. “It is always the customer’s responsibility to be on your way as early as is necessary.”

People who miss flights are also likely to struggle to get payouts from travel insurance, warned Gabriella Hallberg, an expert on travel insurance at the Swedish Consumers’ Insurance Bureau. 

“If you’re at the airport and are hit by security controls that take a very long time, they consider that it is the consumer themselves who have not planned their journey,” she told SR

She said that it might be possible to find an insurance company that is willing to insure against flights missed due to security queues. 

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