Finnish airports see higher passengers in H1 but below pre-pandemic level

A total of nine million passengers travelled through 20 Finnish airports in January–June 2023, which is 36 per cent higher compared to the stipulated period of the previous year, said country´s airports operator Finavia.

The number of passengers travelled through Finnish Airports in January-June, 2022 was 6.6 million.

The passenger volume at Helsinki Airport grew by 37 per cent, but the number is still lower than the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

Some 78 per cent of the passengers took an international flight and 22 per cent a domestic one.

A particularly positive increase was seen in the passenger volumes at Tampere-Pirkkala, Rovaniemi and Turku Airports due to the opening of new direct international flight connections.

“Finavia's active work to open new flight connections improves accessibility for the whole of Finland. These statistics are a very positive sign that air traffic is recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer, there are direct flights to nearly 150 destinations around the world from Finavia's airports. We work actively with airlines and tourism operators to develop our routes,” said Petri Vuori, Finavia’s Senior Vice President, Sales and Route Development.

A total of 7.5 million passengers travelled through Helsinki Airport in January–June 2023. This is 37 per cent more than the 5.5 million passengers last year, but less than the 10.6 million passengers in 2019.

Of the passengers at Helsinki Airport, 87 per cent took an international flight and 13 per cent a domestic one.

The number of transfer passengers on international flights increased by 56 per cent from the previous year, but there is still significantly less transfer travelling than in 2019. Its recovery continues to be affected by the low level of transfer travelling between Asia and Europe.

The most popular international routes took passengers from Finavia's airports to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London and Paris. Of international scheduled flights, Germany, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy accounted for the largest numbers of passengers.

The most visited non-European destinations were the United States, Japan, Thailand, India and South Korea.

A total of 1.5 million passengers travelled through Finavia's regional airports in January–June 2023. Compared to last year's 1.1 million passengers, this represented 34 per cent growth.

Most of the passengers flew from Rovaniemi, Oulu, Kittilä, Turku and Ivalo Airports.