Better conditions for domestic passengers at CPH

Travellers will have attractive new opportunities when the airlines and Copenhagen Airport merge domestic traffic and international traffic at Terminals 2 and 3 next year. This merger of domestic and international traffic has been a major wish of SAS and Norwegian, which account for close to 85% of domestic traffic in Denmark.

The decision to convert Terminal 1 to a pier and close it as a domestic terminal is part of the new four-year charges agreement between CPH and the airlines at Copenhagen Airport.

SAS: A better travel experience

With the merger of domestic travel into the international terminals, SAS will be spearheading a simpler and improved travel experience. It really makes sense to consolidate SAS services at the airport, thereby offering all our travellers the same good facilities and services," said EVP COO Flemming Jensen of SAS.

"There are many benefits of having all SAS operations in the same terminal. SAS customers who use the airport to travel via Copenhagen Airport to international destinations will experience shorter waiting times and much shorter walking distances. And the domestic travellers will benefit from being closer to the Metro and trains that are located right by the arrivals terminal. To SAS, the change will also allow us to increase our productivity," said Flemming Jensen.

Norwegian: It will be easier for passengers
Norwegian, the second-largest airline at Copenhagen Airport, has wanted the change partly in order to enhance its efficiency even further by merging domestic and international services.

Norwegian is working hard to make our product as simple and flexible as possible for our passengers and with the merger we have taken yet another step. It will allow us to consolidating our traffic, resulting in a better utilization of our aircraft, lower costs and shorter turnaround times. Efficient operations ultimately means that we can continue to offer the passengers lower fares," said Johan Bisgaard Larsen, head of information at Norwegian.

The agreement enhances domestic services
Copenhagen Airport's CEO, Thomas Woldbye, believes that the merger of terminals will tie Denmark even better together:

"The travellers and the provincial airports have had a major wish of enhancing facilities for domestic traffic at Copenhagen Airport, thereby tying Denmark even more together. That's what we are doing now. With the merger, it will be even easier to transfer to international flights at Copenhagen Airport.

In that way, it strengthens the international accessibility to all of Denmark that we have a competitive international airport in the capital region that can offer 155 direct routes to destinations in Europe and the rest of the world," said Woldbye.

 

FACTS:

• The merger of domestic and international traffic is part of the four-year charges agreement recently entered into between CPH and the airlines on the price of using the airport. The Agreement comes into force on 1 April 2015.
• The existing Terminal 1 will be closed as a separate terminal in the course of the next year and will be continued as a "pier".  This means that the 1.5 million domestic passengers will have full access to all the facilities in Terminals 2 and 3.
• After the merger, both domestic and international traffic will use the same facilities, so the charges will be harmonised. This means that the previously lower domestic charge will be replaced by a common charge, which will be slightly lower than the current international charge. The change is neutral in terms of Copenhagen Airport revenue.
• The changed charges will be phased in over two years.