SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Why southern Swedes face more expensive international flights from 2025

Copenhagen airport is the largest international airport for many residents of southern Sweden, who will be affected by the Danish government's new sliding-scale tax on air travel.

Why southern Swedes face more expensive international flights from 2025
Planes parked at Copenhagen Airport. File photo: Ernst Tobisch/Copenhagen Airport

The new tax, which from 2025 will increase the price of the average flight from Danish airports by around 100 Swedish kronor, would eventually raise the price of a flight to Bangkok by around 600 Swedish kronor, while a flight to New York would increase by 375 Swedish kronor, according to examples provided by the Danish tax ministry.

It plans to charge an average of 110 Swedish kronor per flight for the first three years, with the tax reaching around 150 Swedish kronor on average per flight in 2030.

The exact amount of tax will depend on the destination of the flight, with flights within Europe incurring a tax of 94 Swedish kronor per flight in 2030.

All passengers departing from airports in Denmark will be required to pay the tax, with the exception of passengers transferring at Danish airports.

The travel tax is expected to give the Danish state a revenue of 1.2 billion Danish kroner (1.8 billion Swedish kronor) in 2030.

This money will partly be spent on green transition within the Danish aviation industry, but will also finance additional welfare for elderly people in the country, according to the proposal.

You can read more about the proposed tax, the reasons behind it, and who it will affect in this article from our sister site, The Local Denmark. Note that the prices in that article are listed in Danish kroner.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Which Swedish roads are set to be busiest around Midsummer?

What are the peak traffic hours around Midsummer and is there anyway you can beat the queues? Here's The Local's guide to one of Sweden's busiest weekends of the year.

Which Swedish roads are set to be busiest around Midsummer?

What are the peak traffic hours?

Between noon and 6pm on Thursday, 9am-2pm on Friday and 2-6pm on Sunday.

Which roads are expected to be the worst?

The big motorways are expected to be busy. That’s for example the E4 motorway, which runs from Helsingborg to Stockholm and then all the way up the northeast coast.

Other typical bottlenecks are the E6 between Malmö and Strömstad via Gothenburg and the E22 between Norrköping and Kalmar, as well as the E14 between Sundsvall and Åre.

Roads leading to popular Midsummer destinations, such as Lake Siljan (or Dalarna in general), the roads around Lake Mälaren, and roads leading towards the archipelagos in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Bohuslän are also likely to be packed with holidayers.

See the map at the bottom of the article.

What can I do to avoid the queues?

The best tip is to avoid travelling during peak hours, but other than that, there’s not much, to be honest.

You could stay home or take public transport (which will probably also be busy), but neither is likely to be a realistic option for you this late in the game. If everyone on the road drives responsibly and respectfully, that’s the best way to avoid total gridlock.

If you’re considering alternative routes to avoid the motorway queues, think twice. Of course accidents could happen anywhere, but the major dual carriageways are generally safer than minor roads where you risk head-on collisions with overtaking drivers.

If there is an accident and you get stuck in a queue as a result, the motorways – at least one lane – are also likely to reopen to traffic faster than some of the smaller roads.

So the best thing is to allow extra time for travel, stick to the speed limit and put up with the queues. If that means driving slower than the speed limit, so be it. Don’t overtake for the sake of it. Bring good music and snacks in the car to make the journey part of the holiday.

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t drive while under the influence of alcohol (the drink-drive limit in Sweden is blood alcohol content of 0.02 percent or 0.10 milligrams per litre) and remember that you may still be over the limit the morning after drinking.

Tiredness is also a cause of dangerous driving, so make sure you get enough sleep and take plenty of breaks along the way. This is always important, but even more so on the way home on Sunday after a weekend of late nights and Midsummer revelry.

The map below, issued by the Swedish Traffic Administration, shows the roads that are expected to get the most traffic during Midsummer.

SHOW COMMENTS