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After a rough few years, air travel on the upswing

Jared Paolino
June 14th, 2022


This article is more than 2 years old.

With more passengers making flying to and from Copenhagen than in years, airport management is hurrying to get ready for the summer travel season

Copenhagen Airport is at its busiest in years (photo: Dornum72)

In May, more than 2 million travellers passed through Copenhagen Airport, making it the busiest month for travel since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

May 29, with more than 85,000 air travellers, was the busiest single day for travel since the pandemic wreaked havoc on the aviation industry.

“With such a busy spring, we can see that the Danes and southern Swedes have really gone on the wings again, so we are now looking into a really busy summer,” said Peter Krogsgaard, the commercial director at Copenhagen Airport.

Foreign travellers returning slowly
Joined by travellers from the south of Sweden, Danes are travelling “like never before”, according to Krogsgaard. However, the number of other foreign travellers passing through Copenhagen Airport is yet to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.

In particular, the number of foreign travellers embarking on longer routes offered between Denmark and Asia has been slow to rise. In contrast, the number of routes and travellers to and from North America is growing.

Be prepared for longer waiting times this summer
Across Europe, the travel surge is putting pressure on European airports still reeling from pandemic-related cuts and hiring freezes. This could mean longer waiting times and more delays – this was especially the case last month in Copenhagen around the two bank holiday weekends.  

Now, Copenhagen Airport is racing to meet the rising demand.

“We expect all 330 new employees in security to be fully trained and ready to get the Danes off to a good start when the holiday season starts at the end of June,” said Krogsgaard.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”