Malmö-Sturup Airport is one of Sweden’s busiest airports, handling over 2 million passengers per year.

It is situated in the south west corner of Sweden, only a short drive from Copenhagen in Denmark.

Malmo Airport has a single passenger terminal with 8 contact gates. It has one main runway, with a smaller cross runway.

Passenger flights are operated by airlines such as:

• Al-Naser Airlines
• Direktflyg
• Golden Air
• Next Jet
• Norwegian Air Shuttle
• SAS
• Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia
• TUIfly Nordic
• Wizz Air

Malmo is also a busy cargo airport, with two cargo terminals. Airlines include:

• Air Contractors
• TNT Airways
• UPS Airlines
• West Air Sweden

Spotting

There is a viewing area provided at Malmo Airport for spotting. It is located between the terminal and the parking area, to the left if you leave the main entrance to the terminal. From this spotting location you can see the south end of the passenger apron and take decent photographs of aircraft. It is free to use this spotting area.

Alternatively, you can get views of aircraft by following the fence line towards the end of the runway, as long as you don’t get too close and cause alarm for security.

A former SAS Caravelle can also be seen at Malmo. Turn left outside the main terminal entrance and walk past a race track on your right. The Caravelle will eventually appear.

It is possible to spot through the windows inside the terminal once in the departures area.

Ryanair has announced plans to begin flights to three more airports in Sweden as part of its recent expansion announcements.

Angelholm, Jonkoping, and Kalmar in southern Sweden will all receive a single route from Ryanair to holiday destinations; the first to Alicante, and the latter two to Barcelona Girona.

Flights will start in April next year, each served 4x weekly.

In other news, Ryanair will start new bases in Eindhoven and Krakow in April, basing aircraft and opening new routes from each.

The Douglas DC-9-20 was one of the rarer variants of the type, and only ten were ever built.

It was developed for Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and their requirements for short-field takeoffs in remote airports around Norway and Sweden.

The DC-9-20 featured the fuselage of a DC-9-10, but the improved engines and wings of a DC-9-30.

Following service with SAS, some of the examples flew with airlines such as Aeropostal, Spirit Airlines, and Valujet Airlines. However, today only one example is still flying – and believe it or not, you could have a chance of flying on it!

N127NK currently flies as a platform for skydiving with Skydive Perris. It is based at Perris Valley Airport in California. Skydivers make use of the DC-9′s rear stairs, allowing them a clear drop from the aircraft. You can find out more about Skydive Perris here: www.skydiveperris.com

The remaining DC-9-20′s are:
N952VV – Fuselage remains at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ
YV-11C – Stored at Caracas, Venezuela
YV-12C – Stored at Caracas, Venezuela
N129NK – Active, Skydive Perris, Perris Valley, CA

For more information about flying on the DC-9-20 and many other rare types of aircraft, see our ebook Last Chance to Fly. Details below…

Last Chance to Fly 2012 – ebook
Our latest book, Last Chance to Fly, is available to buy online now. The digital version of this book lists the world’s rarest passenger aircraft types, and where to find them and fly on them.

Click here to find out more and buy a copy.

Regular readers of the blog may know that I recently travelled to Sweden and spent some time at Stockholm’s two airports – in particular Arlanda.

Another big reason for my trip was to fly on the now rare British Aerospace ATP aircraft.

Only one airline currently flies the type in passenger service, and that’s Next Jet, who have three examples flying domestic routes out of Arlanda. Here’s my trip report:

Arlanda is the busiest airport in Sweden, and the main international gateway to the country. It is one of two airports at Stockholm (the other is Bromma, close to the city centre), and is a busy hub for airlines such as SAS, Norwegian, Skyways, Next Jet and Golden Air.

In addition to these, all major European carriers fly here a number of times per day, plus airlines from the USA, Russia and Asia. Highlights include a daily Thai 747, Qatar A330, Continental/United 757, Delta 757, Rossiya and Aeroflot flights from Russia, and lots of traffic to Eastern Europe and neighbouring Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

Arlanda has three runways – 01L/19R, 01R/19L, 08/26.

I recently spent a couple of days at Arlanda, so got a good sense of the best spots at the airport for watching aircraft. Here are some suggestions:

Runway in use varies a lot depending on the wind, and seems to change at different times of day depending on traffic. Busiest for departures was 19R, whilst landings were mainly on 19L and 26 during my visit.

Spotting Hut
This purpose-built hut is on a rocky outcrop overlooking the airfield. It is fantastic when aircraft are landing on 19L as they fly past you very close. They’ll also taxi a few metres away from you a lot of the time. From this spot you can also see aircraft on the 08/26 runway, and most of the storage area. It is alongside the two preserved Caravelle aircraft.

Runway 26
A road leads past the end of runway 26. You can reach it by going past the Spotting Hut, and then turning left after the lake. Just before the end of the runway is a small track and parking area on the right. This place is great for photographing 26 arrivals, but you won’t see anything else.

Sky City
Sky City is a modern, glass-fronted food court and shopping area between Terminals 4 and 5. It is open to non-passengers and has views across a number of stands, and across to runway 01R/19L. You will see about 90% of movements from here if conditions are right. There is a mezzanine seating area which is both comfortable and has great views!

Terminal 3
The small domestic pier of Terminal 3 is open to anyone to access. You can use it to note aircraft parked on the domestic stands, and also on the cargo ramp and remote parking stands.

Airside
If you’re flying out of  Terminal 5, you have a lot of options for viewing aircraft. The terminal has three piers, so you will have to do some walking to see all aircraft. Large windows front all gate areas. Going to the end of the piers is best if you want to see action on runways 01R/19L and 08/26.

Caravelles
As mentioned earlier, there are Caravelles to see at Arlanda. Two are parked next to the Spotting Hut (easy to photograph). One is parked outside the fire station alongside runway 01R/19L (with its nose missing). You can see it from the spotting hut, but can’t get close enough for photos. The final example is on the fire dump alongside runway 01L/19R. You can see it on the right side of the aircraft when taxying for 19R departures.

Hotels
I stayed at both the Radisson Blu and the Jumbo Hostel (see post here) on my visit. Both had acceptable views of aircraft movements when runway use permitted. Both also gave free wireless internet access, so this made tying up movements easy with Flightradar24 on.

The best, but most expensive, hotel for views is the Radisson Sky City, situated inside the terminal building and looking out on Terminal 4 and part of 5, plus runway 01L/19R.

Another option is the Ibis, which apparently has some distant views.
Tips

• Stockholm Arlanda’s website lists departures and arrivals up to two days in advance, so you can plan what you want to see.
• Food and drink is very expensive in Sweden. I found the small newsagent/convenience stores in Sky City and Terminal 4 to be the best value
• Hire car company offices are located in the car parks (next to Radisson Blu hotel). Take the free bus 17 to get there. This is also a good way of getting around if you’re staying on sit.
• Speed limits in Sweden are much slower than elsewhere, and speeding is heavily policed. Don’t risk it.
• I was occasionally able to pick up free internet in the mezzanine seating area of Sky City.

Whilst visiting Sweden recently, I took the opportunity to spend a night at Stockholm Arlanda’s new novelty item – the Jumbo Hostel!

This Boeing 747-200B was dragged from storage at the airport into a new spot next to a taxiway and the main road to the airport and converted into an upmarket hostel to join the other hotel offerings at Arlanda.

The aircraft (c/n 21162/283) had previously flown with Singapore Airlines (9V-SQE), Pan Am (N727PA), Nationair (C-FNXP), Tower Air (N514DC / N620FF), Air Club International (C-GCIH), Transjet Airways (SE-RBN), and North East Airlines (3D-NEE), before retiring in 2004.

Oscar Diös, a hostel magnate, heard about the aircraft for sale and snapped it up. He set about transforming it by stripping out much of the interior and turning it into a unique hostel.

You can’t really miss the aircraft as it stands high above the road and is visible from the terminal area too. To enter, you climb the steps or use the lift to reach the L1 door. Remember to leave your shoes in the rack at the door as I was told off immediately!

The reception is directly in front of you, next to the original spiral staircase. To the left, in the nose of the aircraft, is the cafeteria area where you can have a drink, watch TV, or have breakfast in the morning (60SEK). To the right, the main cabin of the aircraft has been partitioned into rooms on either side of the central corridor.

I had chosen a single room, however dormitories are available too at less cost, and upstairs they have a suite in the cockpit. I entered my room and was confronted with original overhead lockers (still usable) with their original seat numbers in place (29ABC for my room). There were also a few of the original windows, giving a view out over the massive wing.

The room had a double bed on the bottom, and single bed above, so there is room for two or a family to share. It was very comfortable, and included a TV.

At the rear of the cabin, down the corridor, is an enclosed wash area which sits outside the rear door and has fantastic views over the surrounding. There are also three private toilet/sink/shower rooms for everyone to use which were very clean and had soap dispensers provided. My room had clean towels provided.

Free wireless internet was included (access key is printed on your door key), so once settled it was on with the laptop and Flightradar24 to keep an eye on the evening arrivals at Arlanda. My room on the port side of the aircraft looked out on the distant runway 19L/01R and taxiway which linked it to the cargo ramp/Terminal 2. I could also see some departures from runway 19R after they turned.

The other side of the aircraft has views over the cargo ramp at Arlanda, and part of Terminal 2 and runway 19R/01L.

Breakfast the next morning wasn’t anything special, but it was enough to get me going. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed staying the night in this aircraft.

You can visit their website at www.jumbostay.com

Here are some pictures of the stay:

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