– The airspace is now open, with certain restrictions.
The airport manager confirms that I was at Helsing Schrøen at 18.00.
– What kind of restrictions are we talking about?
– It is about how many planes will come and go. But it limits itself because there are so many planes that came in late.
Schrøen expects that the airport will be back in full, normal operation within an hour – that is, before 19:00.
– But the delays have spread both ways, says the airport manager.
He states that the evening will continue to be affected by the delays, but hopes that these will not spread to Saturday.
– I have registered some cancellations, and Saturday is anyway a quieter travel day, says Schrøen.
At this point, the airport at Langnes had been closed for several hours, as a result of the airspace over the whole of northern Norway being closed.
– Fiber breakage
Earlier on Friday afternoon, Schrøen stated that they do not know the reason. Avinor central has set up a crisis team to find a solution to the problem.
– It is probably a fiber break, but we don’t know for sure yet. We are working hard to gather more information, says a clearly stressed airport manager.
Knew nothing
– I knew nothing about closed airspace before you told me, replies passenger Carl Selander when iTromsø asks him how the situation affects his journey.
DID NOT KNOW: Air passenger Carl Selander was not aware that the airspace was closed until he spoke to iTromsø. He had it confirmed via the information desk at the airport.
Photo: Jørn Mikael Hagen
He is going to Trondheim, via both Bodø and Oslo. A flight solitaire that can be difficult to get up to if there are major delays already at the first departure.
After iTromsø informed him of the situation, he turned to the information desk, but received no other message that one must only hope the situation resolves itself.
A female airport employee in Tromsø was also not aware that the airspace above their heads was closed, but through a quick check via their internal communication channels she was able to confirm it. Then the information she got back was that they were now starting boarding, in the hope of a quick solution.
The employee did not want to be named or photographed.
On the whole, the situation at the airport was calm, like a normal Friday afternoon.
AS USUAL: Between 4 and 30 p.m. there was little “chaos” at Tromsø Airport. The number of passengers was like a normal Friday afternoon.
Photo: Jørn Mikael Hagen
Hits the Friday “rush”
The problems occur at the worst possible time, as several flights are expected to Tromsø on Friday afternoon, and these are also due to continue.
He has no forecast for when air traffic will resume.
– Call back in an hour, then we may know more, he says.
Schrøen says the problem applies to all airports north of Bardufoss. In other words, at all airports in the north of the country, the airspace is closed. But not above Longyearbyen.
No connection
The airport manager says Friday’s problems have no connection with the challenges that closed the airspace over Southern Norway on Thursday.
They add that they have systems that ensure that the traffic that is already in the air is safe.
– Flight safety is never in danger, it is emphasized.
Avinor asks passengers to refer to information from their airlines.
On Avinor’s pages, you can follow air traffic. Currently, a number of arrivals and departures at Tromsø airport have been postponed or cancelled.
The case is updated.
NEARLY EMPTY: At 15.45 the airspace over Tromsø was almost empty for aircraft after the airspace over Tromsø has been closed.
Photo: Flightradar (screenshot)
