Denmark's Billund Airport (BLL) has set its sights on securing long-haul passenger service, identifying destinations in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East as target markets.

Speaking to Routes, Jesper Klausholm—BLL director for airline relations, communications and marketing—says the advent of long-range narrowbodies offers “game-changing” opportunities for the Danish airport, as it seeks to double passenger numbers to 7 million by 2040.

“SAS launched flights between Aalborg and New York Newark this summer using Airbus A321LRs, so we feel that there is definitely an opportunity for Billund,” he says. “Our market is three times the size [of Aalborg]. It gives us hope that if SAS can succeed in a smaller market, airlines can also succeed in long-haul sectors from Billund.”

Klausholm says New York is an obvious target for BLL, while Bangkok, Doha and Dubai offer strong potential. Closer to home, the airport is also seeking to broaden its route map to cover more cities in France, Norway and Portugal.

“We have a strong demand for travel to southern France, but we currently have limited direct routes,” Klausholm says. “While we have 13 routes to Italy, we only have one to France. Portugal is another destination where we would like to expand, both to the mainland and Madeira. We also have underserved areas in Norway, including Stavanger and Trondheim.”

However, Klausholm points out that Billund has been successful in securing a string of new routes this year, including Ryanair’s services to Alghero, Berlin and Valencia; the return of Brussels Airlines’ flights to Brussels; Austrian Airlines’ route from Vienna; and Icelandic carrier Play’s entry with operations from Reykjavik. Additionally, Air Greenland started flying to BLL from Kangerlussuaq in March, becoming the carrier’s second destination in Denmark, after Copenhagen.

The growth has helped to put the airport, which was named winner of the Overall Award at Routes Europe 2023, on course for a best-ever year in 2023. Traffic during the first six months totaled almost 1.8 million passengers, up 17.6% on 2022. Klausholm says a record summer now awaits.

“When we were forecasting for this summer, we didn't anticipate it would be as good as it has turned out to be,” he says. “We expected traffic levels to be just below last summer's—but we were proven wrong.”

Over recent years, BLL has focused on a number of airport investments to help accommodate future growth, including enhancements to security areas, arrivals and border control. The airport is now able to handle 1,800 passengers per hour, up from 1,200 previously.

Klausholm says work is also being done to further increase BLL’s cargo operations, saying that the airport handled 80,000 tonnes of air freight in 2022, but about 70% still relies on truck transportation to major European hubs before being loaded onto widebody passenger aircraft.

Maersk Air Cargo has set up a hub at the airport, which is aiming to increase freight handling capacity to 160,000 metric tons per annum in 2040 through the construction of an Airport City facility, in collaboration with PensionDanmark. The facility will include hangars, offices and warehouses, with an estimated 9,000 jobs to be created in the process.

As the Overall Winner at the Routes Europe 2023 Awards, BLL will be a finalist at the Routes World 2023 Awards in Istanbul. Voting for the awards is now open through Aug. 11.