Travellers at Bergen Flesland Airport faced long queues due to issues with its baggage system on Friday. Initially, all luggage belts stopped working, before half of them were returned to service. 

“Right now, there are challenges at Bergen Airport, where the baggage belt is stuck. Technicians are working hard. Something is done manually, but it goes slowly,” communications manager for state-owned airport operator Avinor, Cathrine Fuglesang Framholt, said on Friday morning.

For a period on Friday morning, the only luggage belts working were the ones for special luggage, which didn’t have the capacity to deal with the large number of passengers travelling on Friday.

“But it is far too little compared to the amount of traffic that is now, so it is going slowly,” Framholt told the newspaper Bergenavisen.

Bergen Airport has also seen a handful of delays and cancellations on Friday. One departure each to Florø, Amsterdam, Stavanger and Oslo were cancelled at Bergen Airport on Friday.

Delays are also reported at other major airports. Airports in Oslo and Stavanger have also seen a small number of cancellations.

Avinor expects the situation to ease throughout Friday as Storm Pia tapers off.

“There are some cancellations and delays at the other major airports, but the weather forecast is much better today. So it looks better, even if it is a busy day with many travellers,” Avinor said.

Friday, December 22nd, is expected to be the busiest Christmas travel day for both travel in and out of Norway and for trips across the country. More than 135,000 people are expected to travel on Friday.