Fire halts air traffic to Norway’s Stavanger Airport

A fire broke out in the massive parking garage of Norway’s Stavanger Airport (SVG) causing the airport to close yesterday evening at 5 p.m. local time. All flights to SVG were either cancelled or rerouted to nearby airports, such as Haugesund (HAU), as a result.

Flights to the airport today have resumed mostly normal traffic with only slight delays, according to Flightradar24. However, the impact to cargo operations at SVG, which include the movement of fresh perishable products by various carriers, remains unclear.

SAS Cargo, which transports a variety of general and specialty cargo, including salmon, to the international market, told Air Cargo World that while all air traffic was affected, most flights cancelled yesterday were rebooked to alternative flights today. The carrier did not provide any further information regarding potential impacts to cargo shipments.

“We’re aware of the fire at Stavanger Airport and we’re relieved to hear that no one was injured. We have a cargo handling facility nearby but our operations remain unaffected,” IAG Cargo commented.

Following the outbreak of the fire, SVG posted a Tweet yesterday reporting the closure of the airport and encouraging customers to contact carriers regarding flight bookings.

Grunnet brann i parkeringshuset P4 er all flytrafikk stanset for resten av dagen. Vi ber passasjerer om å forholde seg til informasjon på https://t.co/PpYe2gYqpx og fra flyselskap angående flytrafikken i morgen.

— Stavanger Lufthavn (@SVG_airport) January 7, 2020

Police suspect the fire started in an electric vehicle located in the parking garage, though this has not yet been confirmed, according to local Norwegian news outlets. Reports stated the fire was mostly contained by 10 p.m. local time yesterday with flights to the airport expected to resume the following morning.

Further details regarding the incident’s impact to cargo operations and logistics at the airport are forthcoming.

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