Finnish airports see higher passengers in 2023 but below pre-pandemic level

A total of 18.3 million passengers flew through Finnish airports in 2023, which is 19% higher compared the number of previous year, said country´s airports operator Finavia in a press release on Tuesday.

Despite the growth, the number of passengers, however, still remained lower than the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

“We actively seek to strengthen flight connections in cooperation with airlines and tourism organisations in order to improve the accessibility of Finland. In 2023, there were about 130 direct routes from Finland to destinations around the world. Last year, the number of passengers increased especially on European flights, but there has also been growth on long-haul flights to North America and Asia,” said Petri Vuori, Finavia’s Senior Vice President responsible for route development.

Out of the total passengers in 2023, 80% were flying on international flights and 20% on domestic flights.

The most popular flight destinations from Finnish airports were Stockholm, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Paris.

Of all the international flights, flights to Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK and Italy had the largest passenger numbers.

Outside Europe, the most travelled-to countries were the United States, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and India.

Of all the passengers at Finavia airports, 84% flew via Helsinki Airport. In 2023, the number of passengers was 15.3 million (+19%), compared to 12.9 million the year before. Some 88% of the passengers took an international flight and 12% a domestic one.

The number of transfer passengers departing on international flights was 2.0 million (+27%) at Helsinki Airport. In 2022, that figure was 1.6 million.

Despite the growth, transfer travel has not yet returned to the 2019 level of 3.6 million.

The recovery is affected by the war started by Russia and the closure of the Russian airspace, which have an impact on flights between Asia and Europe.

Finavia’s Lapland airports had a record number of passengers. A total of 547,773 passengers (+18%) travelled via Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo, Kuusamo and Kemi-Tornio airports during the tourist season of November–December 2023.

Some 281,701 passengers (+29%) flew via Rovaniemi Airport alone, while 131,145 passengers (+12%) travelled via Kittilä Airport.

In 2023, a total of 1.5 million passengers (+20%) flew via Lapland airports. In 2022, the number of passengers was 1.2 million.