Airports in Sweden - Interview with Elizabeth Axtelius, Director Aviation Business, Swedavia

Dark/Light Mode (29/10/23)  Making sure that your company stands out at an exhibition can be quite a challenge.

Of course, a barista serving quality coffee, a well stocked bar, and a wide variety of food available throughout the day are tricks that certainly help, but with so many other exhibitors using the same methods it takes a little creative genius to push your concept over the line.

Elizabeth Axtelius

At the Routes World 2023 airport services and airline route development conference and exhibition in Istanbul, Türkiye earlier this month there, was certainly no lack of creativity from exhibitors and delegates were never going to go home hungry or thirsty!

Vantage Airport Group and JFK Millennium Partners brought in 110 Shake Shack burgers each day, Hamburg Airport was serving the most delicious ice cream, Brussels Airport set up a bar stocked with delicious beer and other drinks, Malaysia served satay to delegates, Hungary had a chef making traditional chimney cakes as part of its stand, and there were plenty of other delights available from breakfast buffets to departure time to help ensure that those stands attracted a large number of delegates.

Swedavia was no different and in a fun nod to the many sustainable initiatives the company has in place at its airports in Sweden, had changed the names of the delicious coffee being served at the stand so that delegates asking for Sustainable Aviation Fuel would get an espresso, asking for an Electric Aircraft would get you a cappuccino, whilst ordering A Large Aquifer would give you an Americano, Fossil-Free Airport Operations delivered a macchiato, and the list goes on (click here to see the menu).

Seeing such creativity wrapped with good humour, Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com felt he had no choice but to interview the company to learn more about the sustainable initiatives currently in place and what plans are in the pipeline for the future.

In this interview, filmed during Routes World 2023 on 16 October, Elizabeth Axtelius, Director Aviation Business, Swedavia Airports, gives us an insight into some of the many admirable steps that the company has taken to make their operations and air travel in general more sustainable.

We discuss passenger numbers, post-COVID recovery and targets for 2024. Steven asks which markets have recovered the quickest, which markets in south east Asia and Asia Pacific are looking to resume flights, and what challenges the airports face in cultivating new routes as well as recruiting employees. All that and much, much more in the interview below, available in both HD video and podcast formats.

Airports in Sweden - Interview with Elizabeth Axtelius, Director Aviation Business, Swedavia

PODCAST

See Videos from Routes World 2023 in Istanbul, Türkiye, including:  Love The Philippines - Interview with Warner M. Andrada, OIC-Assistant Secretary of Tourism Development, DOT Philippines, Saudi Arabia's Air Connectivity Program - Interview with Sultan Otaify, VP Strategy & Communication, Malaysia Airports Video Interview with Megat, Senior General Manager - Strategy, Skyscanner Interview with Michael Docherty, Commercial Director, Airports in Sweden - Interview with Elizabeth Axtelius, Director Aviation Business, Swedavia, Singapore Changi Airport - Interview with Peh Ke-Wei, Vice President of Passenger and Air Hub Development, Changi Airport Group (CAG), Airports in Scotland - Interview with Gary Cox, Director of Aviation at Transport Scotland, JFK T6 - Interview with Steve Thody, COO of JFK Millennium Partners, Tourism Malaysia Video Interview with Datuk Musa Bin Yusof of MTPB, Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Philippines - Video Interview with CEO, Julius Neri Jr., Helsinki Airport (HEL) - Interview with Ulla Lettijeff, SVP and Director, Suvarnabhumi Airport's (BKK) New Satellite Terminal - Interview with Paweena Jariyathitipong, Airports of Thailand, Korea Airports Corporation - Video Interview with Soowan Seo, Finavia Lapland - Interview with Jani Jolkkonen, SVP Airport Network, and Beijing Daxing Airport (PKX) - Interview with Deputy GM Aviation Business; plus 16 Exclusive HD Video Interviews from Routes Europe 2024 in Aarhus, Denmark; 9 Exclusive HD Video Interviews from Routes Asia 2024 in Langkawi, Malaysia; 15 Exclusive HD Video Interviews from Routes World 2023 in Istanbul, Türkiye.