Copenhagen Airport

Facts

Northern Europe's biggest airport

By Steffen Elmer Jørgensen, Arkivar, seniorforsker, Ph.D. (18 stories)

Copenhagen Airport, complete with concrete runways, terminals and hangars, opened in 1925 and by the 1930s was Northern Europe's largest airport. A new Functionalist-style terminal designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen was built in the years 1936-39. After the war, Denmark, Norway and Sweden formed the passenger airline Scandinavian Airlines. International air traffic was increasing rapidly, and in 1955, Scandinavian Airlines was looking to acquire jet carriers. The airline decided to extend the airport site and build a second terminal, which opened in 1960. In 1998, a third terminal opened, this time connected with a railway station, the Copenhagen Metro and a hotel.

Partly a public place

Selected entry

Relocation plans hit by crisis

Story written by Steffen Elmer Jørgensen

Time / Periode 1936 1939

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From the beginning, Copenhagen Airport was short of space. In 1958, the new international terminal was under construction. Meanwhile, air traffic forecasts pointed to a huge increase in scheduled and charter services. The residents near the airport were complaining about the noise from the jets. As early as in 1956 there were proposals to build an airport on the island of Saltholm in the Sound. The idea was to connect Saltholm with a bridge to Malmö in Sweden and Copenhagen. But politicians hesitated for two decades and in 1978, the financial crisis led the Danish Government to shelve the project. The airport remained on the island of Amager and extensions continued apace. In 1998, Terminal 3, known as the Paper Plane" was opened. "