Country Touts Environmental Aspects Of Stockholm Airport City

Sweden's first "airport city," the state-of-the-art Stockholm Airport City, is currently being built in the Stockholm region. The supersized airport project includes a 650-room hotel, meeting center, and offices.

Stockholm-Arlanda Airport is Sweden's largest international airport, and serves 18 million passengers every year. It is Sweden's most important portal to the world and serves as a hub for the entire Nordic and Baltic Region.

The airport is expanding quickly, and Stockholm Airport City aims to further increase the opportunity to hold conferences and events in Sweden and Scandinavia.

During the coming decade, some EUR1.46 billion is being invested in the project by LFV/Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, Arlandastad Holding, and the municipality of Sigtuna, according to the Stockholm Visitors Board.

"It is natural to continue to create opportunities for travellers, companies and visitors, connected to the airport. Stockholm Airport City will become an important part of the dynamic centre that stretches out from Stockholm-Arlanda Airport," says Lars Rekke, director general of the LFV Group - Swedish Airports and Air Navigation Services, one of the project investors.

Inspired by similar "airport cities" in Amsterdam, Dallas and Hong Kong, Stockholm Airport City will also incorporate an apartment hotel, a meeting center catering for 1,500 people, extensive office space, a craft center and housing expo.

"Stockholm-Arlanda Airport is already one of Sweden's largest workplaces, and there is a need for further expansion of the airport," says Mats Jämterud, CEO of Arlandastad Holding.

Some 50,000 people will work at Stockholm Airport City when it is completed in 10-15 years. The area will include a 650-room hotel, which will feature permanent portraits of the Swedish Royals, including Crown Princess Victoria, on its façade. Run by First Hotels, the hotel will open in 2011.

Stockholm Airport City will be centrally located with the air traffic control tower as a focal point. An environmental focus will seep through the entire project, which is using existing infrastructure such as operations, road networks, and established public transport and supply systems as far as possible.

Peter Lindqvist, CEO of the Stockholm Visitors Board, concludes: "This project will put Stockholm and Sweden even more on the international map. Visitors to Stockholm will be met by a cosmopolitan gateway showing off what we can offer as a city."

FMI: www.stocon.se/ecots2005/9/12931.asp