Airport Stockholm-Arlanda

Location
Opened in 1960, Arlanda airport is about 41 km (25 miles) north of Stockholm, in the town of Märsta. From Stockholm take the E4 towards Uppsala, behind Alarndastad turning off onto the national road 273 and following the airport signs to the terminals.

Passengers traveling by train and bus can for instance take the 200 km / h Arlanda Express from Stockholm station to the Airport in about 20 minutes. The trains operate at 10-15 minute intervals and stop at both Arlanda South (Terminal 2,3. and 4) and Arlanda North (Terminal 5).

The airport also has its own station: Arlanda Central Station, which is in the ​SkyCity area of the airport between terminals 4 and 5. Here, the commuter trains (S-Bahn) stop on a regular basis on the route between Stockholm and Uppsala. A regular shuttle service from / to Stockholm City is offered by the companies Flygbussarna, and also serves the airports in Bromma, Skavsta and Vasteras. Alternatively, local bus number 853, operated by Stockholm Transport, also stops at all the terminals.

Passengers from the Uppsala area can take bus numbers 801 and 802 operated by Upplands Lokaltrafik.

At the airport, a free shuttle bus (number 10) runs between all the terminals. It operates every day between approximately 6.00 am and 11 pm. The shuttle bus 14 is also free and operates a regular service from about 5:00 am to midnight between the terminals and the long-term car park as well as the nearby airport hotels of Radisson SAS and Jumbo Hostel. Alternatively, to travel between the terminals and the parking lots passengers can use the bus number 17, which also operates regularly between approximately 5.00 am and midnight and on request by phone at night.

History
Plans to build a new airport site as an alternative to Bromma airport, which was opened in 1936, were developed in 1943 because the runways in Bromma were too short for future intercontinental flights to North America. In 1958, the Regulatory Commission agreed to build the new airport in the Ärlinghundra district, which derived its name from an old document dating from 1316. Due to this historical background, the Swedish Parliament decided in 1958 to call the new airport Stockholm-Arlanda, after the Ärlinghundra area and also relating to the Swedish word Landa, meaning to land.

In 1959, only a year later, the new airfield was in use by flying schools and on 26 June 1960, the first commercial flight took off to New York. The official opening of the new airport was only celebrated two years later on 1 April 1962 when it was inaugurated by the former Swedish King Gustav VI Adolf.

The advent of charter tourism to the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 1970s meant that eventually an extra charter flight terminal was built in 1972. Due to the steady increase in international air traffic a large international terminal was also constructed in 1976, which again was inaugurated by King Gustav VI. This new terminal was used by both normal scheduled air traffic as well as charter flights.

The airport was further expanded in the following years and on 1 October 1983, the new Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 were officially opened by King Karl XVI Gustav and his wife Queen Silvia. The opening of Terminal 2 was celebrated in 1990 together with Prince Bertil Gustav of Sweden, the 3rd son of King Karl XVI Gustav. Terminal 3 was commissioned only shortly after this.
In the 1990s the next big expansion project continued with the construction of a rail network (Arlandabanan), which was to link the airport to the train station in Stockholm. This was finished in November 1999 when the Arlanda Express train began operations.

With the economic boom in the 1990s, air traffic increased to record levels, resulting in the fact that the airport soon reached the limits of its capacity. Thus, in 1998, building work began on the the construction of a new runway, now Runway 3, which runs parallel to the original runway. The construction of a new 83 m high control tower was finished on 23 December 2001. Further building work was also undertaken on the fire station and terminal 5 and this was completed by 2002. The inauguration of the control tower and runway 3 was held on 29 May 2002 by the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland, the eldest child of King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia.