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Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Emma Firth
Emma Firth - [email protected]
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Vejers strand holiday home area on the West coast of Jutland. The number of people who live in their Danish summer house for the whole year is decreasing, according to Statistics Denmark. Photo: John Randeris/Ritzau Scanpix

SAS restarts union talks, an increase in lung cancer cases in Denmark and fewer people living in holiday homes all-year-round. Here's the latest news roundup from Denmark on Wednesday

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SAS resumes talks with unions 

The Scandinavian airline SAS is due to resume talks with Danish, Swedish and Norwegian pilot unions at 10am in Stockholm at the offices of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. 

Norway’s state mediator, Mats Ruland, was already in Stockholm on Tuesday afternoon, telling the country’s NTB newswire that he hoped that the two sides would be pragmatic and look for a solution. 

According to the aviation analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs, a deal could be done in days. 

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Nearly 1,000 SAS pilots have been on strike since last Monday, leading to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights, and tens of thousands of passengers either unable to take their holidays, or stranded in their holiday destinations.  

Nordic travel company Apollo said on Wednesday that around 1200 of their guests were still stranded abroad. They said they hope to fly 400 guests home today and another 200 on Thursday.

About 40 percent of Apollo's package holidays over the summer use SAS aircraft.

Lung cancer cases increase in Denmark

A new report from the Danish Cancer Society has shown that cancer of the lungs, bronchi and trachea is now the most common form of cancer in Denmark, rather than breast cancer. 

In 2020, more than 5,000 people in Denmark were diagnosed with lung cancer, while 4,800 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed, newspaper Berlingske has reported.

Although breast cancer among women is almost twice as common as lung cancer, more women are dying from lung cancer, which has a high mortality rate - just one in four people are expected to live beyond five years after diagnosis. In 2020, almost 3,400 people in Denmark died from lung cancer.

Chairman of the Danish Lung Cancer Group, chief physician Torben Riis Rasmussen said the widespread smoking culture in Denmark is the main cause for the increase; between 90 and 95 percent of all lung cancer cases are estimated to be smoking-related.

"The risk you inflict on yourself by smoking does not disappear even if you quit. Many of the patients with lung cancer we see today have stopped smoking, sometimes many years ago - but they still carry the risk", Rasmussen told Berlingske.

However there are promising new treatments on the horizon that will hopefully increase the five-year survival rate, Rasmussen said.

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Fewer people using their summer houses all-year-round

The number of people who live in their Danish summer house for the whole year is decreasing, according to Statistics Denmark.

There were 37,180 Danish holiday homes that were lived in by either owners or tenants in 2018. In 2022, that number fell to 32,999 - a decrease of 13 percent.

Thomas Hovgaard, press officer for Estate, said that many people who used their holiday home all-year-round, sold up when there was an increase in demand and selling price during the pandemic. He also noted that many holiday home owners now rent out their homes to tourists on a short-term basis, as a profitable way of owning the holiday home.

Rain and wind forecast for later today

It was a rainy start to Wednesday for many in the southern parts of Denmark.  Several places in central and north Jutland can expect rain from around midday.

The temperature this afternoon will be between 21 and 26 degrees - however it will be cooler along the west coast with strong winds expected in North Jutland.

 
 
 

 

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