New international airport for northern Sweden

The new airport will be named “Destination South Lapland” and aims at 30000 passengers per year, airport director Johan Hagelberg told newspaper Västerbottens-Kuriren.

The new airport will be based near the existing Sagadals Airport, a smaller facility which currently handles 14000 passengers per year.

There is a rapidly increasing demand for airport services in Vilhelmina and the nearby municipalities of Åsele, Dorotea and Strömsund, Hagelberg told the newspaper. The possibility to take down bigger aircrafts and connect with other countries is vital, he adds.

Charter flights from England, France, Germany, as well as other Nordic countries are expected to give local tourism a boost. Today, tourists will normally have to go through the airports of Umeå or Skellefteå to get to Vilhelmina.

The Västerbotten county also has an airport in Hemavan, near the border to Norway.

An estimated 200 million SEK will have to be invested in the new airport. That money is however not yet arranged for, Hagelberg admits.