07.11.2008
Villy Søvndal of the Socialist People’s Party visited Copenhagen Airport

On 6 November, Danish Socialist People’s Party chairman Villy Søvndal visited Copenhagen Airport. “Copenhagen Airport is a wonderful place. It always receives high ratings in international surveys, and I can really see why,” said Søvndal during his visit.

On his tour of the airport, which lasted about two hours, Villy Søvndal saw some of the investment made by the airport in recent years to ensure that Copenhagen Airport continues to be a high-quality airport Danes can be proud of.

Søvndal also met a number of CPH employees who told him what they do every day to help give passengers a smooth and pleasant departure from Copenhagen Airport. On his way, Søvndal met staff and management from departments such as Security, Cleaning, Baggage, Airside Support, and Fire and Rescue.  

An excellent visit behind the scenes
Søvndal was very impressed with what he saw behind the scenes and with the high level of commitment shown by CPH employees:  
“As politicians, we risk concentrating too much on the public sector and knowing too little about the private sector. For this reason, it has been a valuable experience for me to visit the airport and gain a good insight into how it works. I can use what I have learned today when the Danish parliament needs to take decisions on general traffic issues. Copenhagen Airport is a great place. It always receives high ratings in international surveys, and I can really see why.”

Søvndal added: “On my next trip, I’ll think about how nice it is that someone in Security is always keeping a good eye on me. I’ll also think about my suitcase, which moves around so fast in the baggage system and hopefully comes out in the right place, as most of the suitcases do. These are images I now have of what goes on behind the scenes, and I’ll be thinking of them next time I’m at the airport,” he said.

An insight into the infrastructure
Employees at the airport thought it was interesting to have a top politician from the third-largest political party in Denmark visit their workplace. Steen Flinta of Field Service commented: 
“It was interesting to tell Villy Søvndal about what goes on at the airport. It gives him a good insight into the infrastructure and showed him how the airport functions. As an employee, it was nice to meet Søvndal in person and have an opportunity to ask him in more detail about some of the current political issues and hear his views,” said Flinta.  

Understanding from politicians
Copenhagen Airports CEO Brian Petersen also saw the visit by Søvndal as very valuable and was pleased to see the great interest the politician showed in one of Denmark’s largest workplaces.
“The idea of the visit was to show Søvndal what it’s like to work at one of Denmark’s biggest workplaces and show him all the things that happen here that passengers don’t normally see. It’s important to us that politicians understand what we do and how complex a workplace it is so we can get support from them when we need it,” said Petersen.