Copenhagen: The National Flag Carrier of Denmark at Kastrup Airport

The Kastrup International Airport of Copenhagen is the main airport of the country, serving Denmark, the whole Zealand, the Oresund Region and Southern Sweden. The airport is one of the oldest international airport in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. Moreover, it is the busiest airport for traveling in the Scandinavian region. The airport is the hub of main three airlines, named Scandinavian Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle in Copenhagen.

Among these three airlines, the Scandinavian Airlines, commonly known as SAS is the flag carrier airline of Denmark and the largest airline in Scandinavia. Beside from Denmark, the airline is also operating in Sweden and Norway as the national airline. Overall, the airline is operating 182 aircrafts at 90 destinations but the main hub of the airline is at Kastrup International Airport in Copenhagen. Here, it has connectivity to more than 50 cities in Europe. SAS achieved huge revenue of about SEK 36 billion in 2012 after carrying 25.9 million passengers, making it the 9th largest airline in Europe. Fleet of SAS consists of world class latest aircrafts such as Airbus A319, A320, A321, A330, A340, Boeing 737 Next Generation and Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft.

Founded in 1946, the airline was initially started as consortium which used to pool the transatlantic operations but after two years, it extended its domestic operation to cover Europe and in 1951, all the associated airlines of this consortium were merged to form SAS. It was the first airline in Europe which started its scheduled flights on Transpolar route which increased the American tourists in this region. Following this route, SAS started its flight via Alaska as Soviet Union did not permit SAS to fly across the Siberia but to stay on positive side, SAS publicized this service as round-the-world service, using North Pole.

In 2004, SAS was divided into four separate airline companies and re-brand themselves till 2007 but after facing serial issues, they again merged into one company, SAS Scandinavia System. This new merger came up with low-cost airlines and reducing fares that brought a substantial loss for SAS but after following cost cutting procedure and sold many assets, it survived at some extent. Under the agreement of trade union and bank, SAS drew criticism for such harsh activities of cost cutting but at the end of 2013, the company displayed a considerable profit and escaped from ceasing. For roaming the city you can easily book for Copenhagen airport taxi here. Today, SAS is functioning in Denmark as a leading airline with first class services and aircrafts, containing superlative amenities and luxuries.

Denmark Refusing Syrians Asylum

While hundreds of deaths have been reported in Syria in the past year, the government of Denmark seemingly unconcerned has continued to tighten its immigration laws against refugees. The new regulation has caused a drastic decrease in the number of applicants for asylum in the country.  The number of refugees processed into Denmark in 2014 was 14,815. Although this number is a long shot from the more than 80,000 asylum seekers processed by Sweden, this number has now plummeted drastically in January 2015 due to the new restriction Demark has placed on asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrean. This has generated a lot of criticism from the UN, Amnesty International, and a lot of criticism from countries, concerned organizations and individuals. One is tempted to ask whether the people of Denmark have something against Eritreans or the Syrians who are fleeing death from the crisis in their homeland

The New Regulation

Figures from the Danish Immigration service showed that only 626 people applied for asylum in Denmark in January with half of them from Syria. This is a far cry from the 3,150 that applied as at September. This was after the country introduced a new residence permit that lasts only a year for asylum seekers fleeing the Syrian conflict or other civil wars. Although the new permit which came into action this year can be extended further by two years, family reunifications cannot be granted in the first year. In addition to this, the Danish Government has insisted that refugees must apply for asylum wherever they are first processed. This new regulations has been responsible for the drastic reduction in the number of applicant in January. If this continues then it is sure that Denmark will keep taking a lot less refugees that countries like Sweden who seem to have more than their fair-share.

Implications

The UNHCR’s regional head in northern Europe has said that it is important for Denmark to quickly realize that it has global responsibilities and Denmark cannot isolate itself. He explained that when things like wars or disasters happen, it is our collective responsibility to try and salvage the situation. According to her, Syrians are refugees under the international convention which makes them deserve to be granted asylum. For this reason she warned that refusal to grant them family reunion may be against international law.