Kiruna: Which Airlines Serve Sweden’s Northernmost Airport?
Summary
- Kiruna Airport is a small but vital transport link for the remote community.
- The airport’s ties to mining, tourism, and research industries have increased its importance and brought in international flights.
- Scandinavian Airlines dominates the airport’s traffic, accounting for 90.6% of departures in 2024.
While Sweden’s aviation sector is primarily served by hubs such as Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) and Gothenburg Landvetter (GOT), smaller airports also have an essential role to play. Such airports are vital in the remote northern extremities of the country, with Kiruna (KRN) being located further north than the rest.
A brief guide to Kiruna Airport
Kiruna is a small city established in northern Sweden around the turn of the 20th century to support the local mining industry. It retains close ties to this sector today, with Swedavia noting that “the airport has become increasingly important given the increase in business development, tourism and research facilities in the area.” The facility was initially opened in 1960.
Like the city itself, Kiruna Airport is rather small, but its presence in an otherwise relatively remote area makes it a vital transport link to the local community. Readers familiar with Sweden’s geography will know that it is a rather long and thin country, with the journey down the capital city of Stockholm taking 16 hours by night train. Flights, however, take less than two hours, enhancing Kiruna’s connectivity.
Photo: Leif Ingvarson | Shutterstock
As well as its ties to the mining and tourism sectors, Kiruna has also developed a reputation in recent years as an unlikely research base for aerospace companies. For instance, Swedavia notes that “NASA has conducted ozone research many times” in Kiruna, while “Boeing and Airbus have cold-tested their aircraft” there.
Who flies there in 2024?
According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, three carriers have scheduled flights to and from Kiruna Airport this year. The rarest visitor is German carrier Eurowings, with just 11 rotations from Düsseldorf Airport (DUS) in February and March. 10 of these will use Airbus A319s, while the 11th will use the A320neo.
As it stands, Düsseldorf is the facility’s only international destination, with its remaining traffic being of the domestic variety. Two carriers compete on the route down to Stockholm Arlanda, with Norwegian deploying 186-seat Boeing 737-800s on this route. 67 rotations are scheduled this year, offering between one and ten a month.
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Photo: Henk Vrieselaar | Shutterstock
However, the vast majority of Kiruna’s traffic is provided by Scandinavian Airlines, which accounts for 751 of the airport’s 829 departures (90.6%) this year. SAS typically deploys the Airbus A320 and A320neo on the route down to Stockholm Arlanda, although Cirium’s data also notes the Bombardier CRJ900 as an occasional visitor. All in all, SAS has scheduled 134,620 seats from Kiruna to Stockholm in 2024.
Previous international traffic
Given Kiruna’s status as a gateway to the Arctic Circle, tourism has accounted for some interesting international flights in recent years. For example, 2022 saw Eurowings flights from Salzburg (SZG) and Stuttgart (STR) in addition to its Düsseldorf services. In the pre-COVID era, other destinations included Amsterdam (Transavia), Cologne (TUI), Copenhagen (SAS), and even London Heathrow (SAS).
What do you make of Kiruna Airport’s history and current usage? Have you ever flown to or from the facility? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!