Latest news with #OsloAirport
Local Norway
7 days ago
- Local Norway
Oslo airport passengers warned of queues ahead of busy travel days
Thursday is a public holiday for Ascension Day in Norway, and many people book the Friday off to get a four-day weekend. 'Over 85,000 travellers are expected to pass through Oslo Airport. This is on par with the numbers we see during the summer holidays,' Carita Storm Røsaasen, press officer at Avinor, told public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday. Travellers have been told to use the airline's recommended check-in time. Long queues have been increasingly common at Oslo Gardermoen in recent weeks. Avinor has said some recent long queues have been due to the training of staff who will work at the airport over the summer. Advertisement 'On very busy days like today and tomorrow, you may have to wait in line for 15–20 minutes,' Storm Røsaasen said. The airport has also had issues with a lack of staff in recent weeks. However, Røsaasen said that staffing levels at the airport looked good ahead of a busy few days at the airport.
Local Norway
20-05-2025
- Local Norway
Oslo Airport passengers warned long queues could continue for days
On Monday, travellers passing through Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, faced long waits at security, with delays stretching up to 40 minutes during the afternoon. Although lines cleared by 8 pm, Norwegian airport operator Avinor has warned that similar wait times could return in the coming days due to ongoing staffing challenges. 'We currently do not have a queue at security checkpoints, but we expect that there may be longer waiting times during periods on Tuesday as well,' Helene W. Jensen from Avinor told the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation ( NRK ) on Monday. Staff shortages The delays are primarily linked to staff shortages among security personnel, particularly a lack of employees responsible for heavy luggage screening and physical security checks. The situation has been worsened by high levels of sick leave and the ongoing onboarding of new staff ahead of the summer travel season. 'This is due to both sickness absence among the guards, but we are also training new guards who will help with summer traffic,' Jensen explained. Advice for travellers Avinor is urging passengers to follow the guidelines provided by airlines and arrive well in advance of their flights to avoid unnecessary stress. 'Arrive well in advance and at the time the airline says,' Jensen said. Avarn, the company responsible for airport security, is also addressing the issue. Advertisement CEO Kjell Frode Vik acknowledged the staffing problem and the challenges it presents. 'There is a crew challenge in terms of the number of people at work. It is not so easy to turn around and get 20 extra people, if we see that there is a need,' Vik said. He added that Avarn is working to train more personnel to avoid similar delays during the busy summer season. 'We are now continuously training new people so that summer traffic runs smoothly.' While Monday's queues eventually eased, both Avinor and Avarn cautioned that current staffing levels could mean more delays in the coming days.
Irish Independent
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Eurovision hopeful Emmy and team Ireland jet off to Basel for rehearsals ahead of song contest
Norwegian singer Emmy (24) won RTÉ's Eurosong contest in February with her song Laika Party, written alongside Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath songwriter Larissa Tormey. Emmy, her brother Erlend Guttulsrud Kristiansen and dancers Vilde Skorstad, Karin Aaeng Stuge, Kristiane Lindvik and Christiane Bergersen were in Oslo Airport today ahead of their flight out to Basel for the contest. In a social media post earlier today, Emmy said she was delayed on her way to the airport: "One hour delayed to the airport because of a storm that made some trees fall down and block the road. Stressed? Yess." The Irish Eurovision team's first rehearsal will take place tomorrow in St Jakobshalle in Basel ahead of the semi-finals. The first semi-final will air on Tuesday, with Emmy set to perform in the second-semi final on Thursday, May 15, which is set to air from 8pm on RTÉ 2 and the RTÉ Player. This year's Eurovision grand final will be held on Saturday, May 17.
The Independent
08-04-2025
- The Independent
Norway wrongly deports British traveller as border officials invent their own passport rules
Norway is deporting properly documented British tourists by misinterpreting Europe -wide rules on passport validity. On 22 February 2025 a passenger arrived at Oslo Airport aboard Norwegian flight DY1641 from Edinburgh, along with their partner and friends, for a one-week holiday. The visitor had a British passport that was valid for travel to Norway and anywhere else in the Schengen area up to 25 March 2025 for a stay of up to 90 days. The passport expires on 26 November 2025. All Schengen area nations – including almost all EU countries plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway – are required to apply the same conditions for entry to the frontier-free zone. The visitor was legally entitled to remain in Norway until late June. But police at Oslo airport claimed, incorrectly, that the holidaymaker had insufficient validity on their passport. They ignored the Schengen Borders Code and declared: 'Your passport is issued 26 March 2015 and is therefore considered valid only until the 26 March 2025.' After being detained, the passenger was put on a plane back to the UK with a notice saying they had been 'expelled from Norway'. As The Independent has repeatedly pointed out, the pretence that a UK passport 'expires' on its 10th birthday has no basis in EU law. Passports for third-country nationals such as UK citizens travelling to the Schengen area must be: Issued within the last 10 years at the day of entry. Valid for at least three months after the traveller plans to leave. To emphasise that the two conditions are independent of each other, the EU's Practical Handbook for Border Guards specifies: 'The requirement that the travel document must have been issued within the previous 10 years must be fulfilled at the day of entry but not necessarily during the stay ' [our italics]. In other words, a British traveller could go to Norway the day before their passport reaches its 10th birthday, so long as they had at least three months before the expiry date printed on the document. Despite this clear pan-European standard, the Norwegian authorities deported the British traveller, saying: 'Your planned departure from Norway and the Schengen area is 1 March 2025, and the passport is not valid for three months after the date of departure as the border regulation demands. 'You are therefore expelled from Norway.' The Independent has not been able to identify the traveller. It is highly likely that other British tourists have been deported from Norway by police applying a non-existent rule. The issue came to light when The Independent began investigating a series of cases in which passengers booked on flights from the UK to Norway on the budget airline Norwegian were wrongly turned away. On 31 March 2025, Rachel Bolger was denied boarding for her Norwegian flight from London Gatwick to Bergen. She said: 'We had checked in our bags and had our passports checked. When we got to the departure gate, a very stern lady told me I could not travel as my passport was invalid. She said the expiry date printed on the passport was 'irrelevant' and that it expired 10 years exactly from the issue date. 'We tried to reason with her, she implied we were stupid for not knowing the rules. She called a supervisor who told her she was correct – even though her colleague adjacent tried to query it. 'She quickly and unsympathetically had our bags removed from the plane and we were escorted back through the airport.' Ms Bolger's passport, which The Independent has seen, entitled her to enter Norway up to 15 June 2025 and stay there until mid-September. Norwegian explained its decision to turn her away by supplying details of the deportation case in February. The Norwegian Embassy in London has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Independent about the conduct of the police. Norway is not the only Nordic nation making up its own rules. The deputy chief superintendent of the Danish police, which is responsible for border control in Denmark, repeated the mistake of his counterparts in Norway. He claimed British passports must 'not be older than nine years and nine months from the date of issue'. This has never been the case. The legal position of anyone wrongly expelled by Norway or Denmark is confused. Normally airline passengers would be able to claim compensation for flight disarray. But if a nation chooses to apply non-existent rules to deny boarding or deport a visitor, the airline cannot be held responsible. A spokesperson for the airline, Norwegian, said: 'We regret the disruption to our passengers due to inconsistent interpretation of Schengen passport rules by the Nordic countries. 'As an airline, we must comply with local border control directives, which are currently unclear. We have urged the authorities to provide clear, unified guidance to airlines, in order to prevent further passenger issues and avoid penalties for our company.' The Independent maintains that the conditions for British travellers to the Schengen area as stated in the EU's Practical Handbook for Border Guards are perfectly clear, and has asked the European Commission to intervene to demand Norway and Denmark comply with the rules.
