Overview
In Denmark, we are used to having good flight connections throughout the year. However, this is not something we should take for granted in either the near or distant future. In Europe and the Nordic countries there is increasing competition in attracting new flight connections and more daily departures to important destinations around the world. It is vital for Denmark that we continue to increase our connectivity to the world around us. This international connectivity affects Denmark’s level of globalisation and is therefore a key parameter for our business sector, our job market and our ability to attract tourists.
Aviation is a special sector for Denmark. Not only does the sector create the basis for other companies’ activities and thereby enrich our society, through its domestic traffic, it creates cohesion between the Danish regions. It is therefore vital that we, to a greater degree than previously, include domestic aviation in our plans for the total transport system in Denmark. This strategy focuses on the various elements and presents a number of initiatives, each of which can help to create the basis for continued improvement in connectivity to, from and within Denmark.
With its new aviation strategy, the Government wishes to strengthen the basis for the establishment of more routes and more daily departures to and from Denmark and within Denmark. This will increase Denmark’s national and international connectivity to the benefit of economic growth, employment and cohesion between regions.
Copenhagen Economics (2016) shows that on a per departure basis, passenger benefits are greatest when using a low-cost carrier because of the lower fares compared with a network carrier. At route level, passenger benefits are the greatest when using network carriers as these carriers typically operate several flights per route each week compared to a low-cost carrier whereby the time savings for the passengers increase. The calculation of passenger welfare with changing traffic volumes follows the socioeconomic method used in general analyses of the transport area based on the "Manual for Socioeconomic Analysis - Applied Transport Method and Practice" (2015).
Funding
Results
The objective of the Copenhagen Airport regulatory model is not that the authorities determine the charges. Instead, the model must support negotiations to achieve socioeconomically appropriate results, both in terms of in-vestment level and price level. Regardless of whether the charges are fixed by negotiation or by fall back, they must be cost-related, non-discriminatory and transparent so the same charges apply to all airlines. However, there is, for example, a lower cost-related charge applied to airlines which use the cheaper GO terminal. Additionally, discounts can be granted for starting up new routes. In a regulatory context, this is an incentive-based model as opposed to a "rest-in-itself" model. This means that, within the revenue framework, Copenhagen Airport can increase its financial return through such measures as cost-cutting, attracting more passengers or increasing earnings from the commercial business.
The results include 38 initiatives for improving the air transport in Denmark. Here are first five:
INITIATIVE (1) Together with Copenhagen Airport, the Government will investigate the possibility of expanding Copenhagen Airport Station with a view to having more direct trains to the airport and achieving more robust train traffic to Sweden in the event of a reintroduction of Swedish ID control.
INITIATIVE (2) The Government supports Copenhagen Airport's vision of an expansion to serve at least 40 million passengers annually. To facilitate the expansion, the Government will ensure that the necessary administrative processes are managed as efficient as possible by the relevant authorities.
INITIATIVE (3) The Government finds it important that, in cooperation with the airlines, Copenhagen Airport finds the best solution as regards the cross-wind runway. It is vital that the attractiveness of the airport does not risk being impaired by the closure of the cross-wind runway.
INITIATIVE (4) The Government will work to ensure that the requirement that activities in the Copenhagen Airport area must be related to aviation or the operation of the airport is relaxed to the extent that it is not deemed to limit the possibility of operating air traffic now or in future.
INITIATIVE (5) The Government will investigate whether there is a basis for changing other parameters relating to the Copenhagen Airport area so as to provide better planning opportunities for the airport