# Visby Airport

Visby Airport (IATA: VBY, ICAO: ESSV), is located about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) north of Visby, Gotland, Sweden.
Visby airport is Gotland's only commercial airport and the 12th largest airport in Sweden. The airport had 463,616 passengers in 2016. The traffic has a large seasonal variation, with many more passengers in the summer: in 2016, it had 18,070 passengers in January and 57,302 in July. During the Almedalen Week the airport is slot coordinated.

## History

Seaplanes were used for public flights to Gotland from 1925, landing in a sheltered bay near Slite, or in Lake Tingstäde.
Visby Airport was opened on 27 January 1942. The first aircraft to land was a Junkers Ju 52/3m named Göteland from AB Aerotransport. In October of the same year, regular traffic between Visby and the Swedish mainland started, in the beginning mostly with Ju 52s. In 1958, a new terminal building, a new control tower and a new runway made of asphalt was inaugurated. A runway also featured a railway crossing. The current terminal and control tower opened in 1985.

## Tenants

The airport has been used for military activities from its opening in 1942, although not as a proper airbase, but as a detachment used by a mainland airbase. The airport has the only long runway on Gotland. Gotland and the airport are important in the event of a need to defend against an attack on NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and for general defense of the Baltic Sea.
Apart from the commercial aviation at Visby airport, there are also a flying club and a parachuting club based at the airport. Also, the Swedish Maritime Administration has a search and rescue helicopter based in Visby.

## Airlines and destinations
### Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Visby Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| Braathens International Airways | Seasonal charter: Preveza/Lefkada |
| Finnair | Seasonal: Helsinki |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Seasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Stockholm–Arlanda |

### Cargo

| Airlines | Destinations |
| PopulAir | Stockholm–Arlanda |

## Statistics

Busiest routes to and from Visby Airport (2022) :
| Rank | Airport | Passengers handled | % change 2021/22 |
| 1 | Stockholm, Sweden | 259,833 | 49.2 |
| 2 | Gothenburg, Sweden | 15,011 | 40.3 |
| 3 | Malmö, Sweden | 10,346 | 335.8 |
| 4 | Helsinki, Finland | 3,396 | |
| 5 | Rhodes, Greece | 2,339 | 882.8 |
Traffic by calendar year :
| Year | Passenger volume | Change | Domestic | Change | International | Change |
| 2019 | 446,864 | 04.5% | 433,408 | 04.6% | 13,456 | 00.4% |
| 2018 | 467,855 | 04.8% | 454,483 | 04.2% | 13,402 | 017.2% |
| 2017 | 491,503 | 06.0% | 474,684 | 05.7% | 16,189 | 09.1% |
| 2016 | 463,616 | 07.5% | 448,784 | 08.0% | 14,832 | 08.3% |
| 2015 | 431,430 | 06.0% | 415,251 | 06.5% | 16,179 | 06.0% |
| 2014 | 406 998 | | 389,793 | | 17,205 | |

## Unusual railroad crossing

Before the railroad was closed down on the island of Gotland, the main line from Visby to the northern parts of the island actually crossed the runway. It was one of the few airports in the world where this happened. The railway traffic was ended in 1960, and the tracks were removed a few years later.