International air traffic in the Baltic Sea Area: Hub-gateway status and prospects. Copenhagen in focus

摘要

This paper focuses on the internal and external accessibility of the Baltic Sea Area represented by air transport and discusses the challenges of hub and gateway development. Air transport is the most important medium for long distance transport of people and high value goods, and has strategic significance for global accessibility. The collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, market orientation of the economies that followed, and the coming enlargement of the European Union change the opportunities for creating economic dynamism in the region. The success of this development particularly depends on two parameters: the region must be interconnected through a tight transport infrastructure, and the countries in the region must have high accessibility to the rest of the world. For the Baltic Sea Area it is important that the major centre of air traffic is located in the region so that economic spin off is local. Copenhagen is the only large international gateway in the Baltic Sea Area. Potential development of this hub is discussed in the paper.