3.12.2009
Copenhagen Airport ready to receive climate conference participants

A large number of VIP aircraft carrying heads of state and heads of government who are going to participate in the UN climate conference (COP15) are expected to arrive at Copenhagen Airport mid-December. However, the majority of the guests who are going to participate in the meeting in Copenhagen, counting 15,000, will arrive on ordinary, scheduled flights. Copenhagen Airport has put in extra resources to be able to rise to the challenge.

Around 15,000 delegates, journalists and observers from all over the world will travel into Copenhagen to participate in COP 15 at Bella Center on 7 to 18 December. Copenhagen Airport is ready to welcome foreign guests, including the large number of heads of state and government, ministers and other public representatives expected to participate in the conference.

The majority of the participants will travel to Copenhagen on ordinary, scheduled flights, and their arrivals and departures will entail no significant changes to the day-to-day operation of the airport. For example, no extra waiting time at the security checkpoint is expected for passengers. 

”Throughout the month of December, a total number of about 1.5 million passengers will travel through the airport. Viewed in that light, another 15,000 passengers are not many. At the same time, we expect to receive a great number of VIP aircraft carrying heads of state and government and other high-ranking people. Handling these aircraft and guests will require extra resources on our part, first and foremost in the form of more security personnel,” says Henrik Peter Jørgensen, Vice President, Communication, Copenhagen Airports.

Thorough preparations during the past year
In close collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Police, airlines and handling companies, the air traffic control operator, Naviair, and other parties, Copenhagen Airport has, during the past year, been preparing the handling of the many arrivals and departures during COP15, including plans and procedures for the VIP delegations.

One of the challenges is that, so far, relatively few heads of state and government have reported when and how they will arrive in Copenhagen. We do, however, expect up to 140 special VIP aircraft carrying high-ranking representatives from the world’s nations to arrive in Copenhagen on or around 16 December. For this reason, all available staff will be working at Copenhagen Airport during that period of time. This also applies on 9 December, when the US President, Barack Obama, has announced that he will arrive on Air Force One.

In order to facilitate the ordinary traffic at the airport and the practical handling of the arrivals and departures of the VIP guests, a maximum of 10 VIP aircraft per hour will be granted permission to land at or take off from the airport. Limited aircraft parking capacity beyond the capacity for normal airport traffic means that most of the VIP aircraft will have to leave the airport again within two hours. Instead, those aircraft will have to be parked at other airports until it is time to pick up their passengers in Copenhagen Airport again.

High state of readiness and extra staff
In addition to extra security staff, Copenhagen Airport has also put in extra personnel to handle things such as transport services and information to arriving and departing COP15 guests. A large number of employees from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also be available in the airport to assist the conference participants and guide them to their respective hotels.

“It is our job to ensure that the traffic is handled efficiently and that the many guests arriving at the airport are well received, which applies to heads of state and government as well as to grassroots and journalists. Copenhagen Airport is a big, international airport in a high state of readiness and used to handle VIP delegations, which makes us feel well prepared to do the job. Moreover, the IOC meeting in October worked as a type of rehearsal for the coming weeks of events,” says Henrik Peter Jørgensen.