Queue chaos at Stockholm airport as people rush to travel

STOCKHOLM, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Inbound traffic to the main international airport of the Swedish capital was diverted on Saturday as the main terminal was overcrowded with massive queues at the security gates.

Already at 4:30 a.m., road traffic to Terminal 5 of Stockholm Arlanda International Airport was temporarily diverted. Later, it was decided that the express train between Stockholm City and Arlanda Airport would not stop at the terminal, Swedish Television (SVT) reported.

According to Swedavia, the company that runs Arlanda Airport, the congestion is due to a sharp increase in passenger numbers following the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the company has had trouble recruiting and training staff to man the security gates. The security vetting of new employees is another bottleneck.

Although this has been a problem for the last few weeks, the situation was extraordinary on Saturday and Swedavia predicted that the congestion would persist.

"There will be a high load on Arlanda this summer. If you can check-in digitally, you should do so. Otherwise, it is good to keep track of when your airline opens the check-in," David Karlsson at Swedavia's press department told SVT.

"We have seen that people are here 6-8 hours before their flight leaves, long before the check-in opens. And this worsens the congestion," he said.