Rovaniemi sees 5% rise in air passengers in Q2

The passenger traffic through the Rovaniemi Airport posted a rise of nearly 5 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, said Finavia, the company responsible for maintaining and developing the country’s airports and air navigation system.

According to the statistics, the airport handled 88,788 passengers in April to June quarter as against 84,838 passengers handled in the corresponding period of 2016.

“The number of passengers increased by 4.7% in the second quarter,” Finavia Communications Specialist Stana Porvali told the Daily Finland, adding that the rise was both in the international and domestic passenger traffic.

Of the quarterly passengers, the airport saw 30,206 in April, 28,841 in May, and 29,741 in June last compared to 31,617 in April, 28,246 in May, and 24,975 in June 2016. The rise was significant in June following the launch of direct summer flights by Voigt Travel between Amsterdam and Rovaniemi on June 3.

The Voigt Travel’s Amsterdam-Rovaniemi direct flights are scheduled to run twice a week till the end of July. The flights have proved an excellent stimulation for tourism in Lapland. Previously Lapland has had new routes opened for the winter season, but the summer of Lapland will be introduced to tourists from the Netherlands, said a recent press release of Finavia.

“After a magnificent winter season at Lapland airports, this launch is a fantastic step for increasing the travelling in the summer season too. We will give a warm welcome to the travelers arriving from Holland to enjoy the Finnish summer,” said Finavia Senior Vice President Joni Sundelin.

Voigt Travel Managing Director Cees van den Bosch said, “Our main goal is to turn Lapland and the northernmost part of Scandinavia into a year-round holiday destination.”

An ever-increasing trend of international tourist inflow, openings of new direct international flights, and a rise in domestic passengers are the main reasons behind the increased passenger volume at the airport, the sources said.

Earlier, a number of airlines launched direct flights to Rovaniemi from different cities in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland in the wake of the persistent increase in international tourists to Rovaniemi.

Finavia has in recent years invested heavily in tourism in Lapland, including 35 million euros invested in Lapland airports in 2014-2016.

As a part of the Finavia investment, the Rovaniemi Airport went through massive renovations in 2016 at a cost of 13 million euros.

Tourists do know that Rovaniemi is the official hometown of Santa Claus and the Rovaniemi Airport is Santa’s official home airport.