Struggles for Aarhus and Billund airports, weather to take a dour turn this weekend, and Frederiksen’s Labour Day speech are among the news stories in Denmark this Friday.
Aarhus Airport confirms talks with new investor
Struggling Aarhus Airport, says it has chosen to move forward with a new unidentified international investor after a conditional agreement with another unidentified investor appeared to fall through.
The identity of the new investor has not been disclosed, but the airport said in a statement that its board has signed a termsheet with the investor “as a basis for a final investment agreement”.
In November last year, the airport announced it had entered a conditional agreement with another international investor who wished to acquire a majority stake in the airport.
The airport needs to find an investor by this summer or it risks losing financial backing from the city’s municipality, according to reports earlier this spring.
Billund Airport bleeds passengers after Ryanair withdrawal
Another under-pressure Danish airport, Billund, has lost large numbers of passengers in the initial month since budget airline Ryanair withdrew its two-aircraft base and 24 services in a row over Denmark’s air travel tax.
Some 217,713 travellers passed through Billund Airport last month, nearly 100,000 fewer than in the same month last year, according to new traffic figures from the airport.
This means the month ended with a 31.4 percent drop in passenger numbers.
“This level of traffic in April aligns well with our expectations for the coming months and the year overall,” Billund Airport CEO Jan Hessellund said in a press release.
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Ryanair announced in February that it would close a two-aircraft base at Billund and cancel all of its 24 services from the airport effective from the end of March, blaming Denmark’s new air travel tax for the decision.
Billund has since announced deals with a number of airlines introducing new routes, notably a new flight to London Gatwick with airline Norwegian and services to several Spanish destinations.
READ ALSO: Denmark’s Billund Airport faces challenge of closing gap after Ryanair departure
Weather set for cooler spell starting this weekend
After a spell of warm and sunny spring weather, a noticeable change is on the way this weekend with temperatures set to drop, and showers forecast.
“We’re waking up to quite a significant change in the weather on Friday,” meteorologist Anja Bodholdt from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) told news wire Ritzau this morning.
“There’s a cold front currently over northern and northwestern Jutland,” Bodholdt explained.
The front is expected to move across the country during the morning, meaning rain in several areas.
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Once the front has passed, the weather is expected to clear again, with sunshine and dry conditions, albeit with lower temperatures than those enjoyed earlier in the week.
It will be “between 11 and 18 degrees” on Friday, with the eastern parts of the country remaining the warmest before the cold front moves through, Bodholdt said.
Saturday is also expected to be wet in much of Denmark before a brighter, but windy and cooler, day on Sunday.
Frederiksen calls for return of shipbuilding tradition in Labour Day speech
Denmark’s former status as one of the world’s leading makers of ships should be restored, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during a Labour Day speech in Odense yesterday.
Frederiksen said it’s time to abandon the idea that Denmark can no longer build large ships and that the country should seize the opportunities presented by increased European defence spending.
The PM’s comments to gathered labour associations come as a political battle is expected over where ships worth billions might be built amid rearmament in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe.