Finland sees slower air passenger growth than other Nordic countries

A total of 19.6 million passengers flew through Finnish airports in 2024 and the number is 7% higher compared to the previous year, said country´s airports operator Finavia in a press release on Monday.

Of the passengers, 81% travelled on an international flight and 19% on a domestic one.

In 2024, the total number of flight operations- take-offs and landings- was 193,173.

Meanwhile, Finland has been one of the slowest recovering air traffic markets in Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The closure of Russian airspace has a significant impact on Asian transfer passenger traffic, and Finland's position in Asian transfer traffic has weakened significantly.

Although the number of passengers at Finavia airports increased by 7% last year, the figure is still 25% below the number of passengers in 2019 (26 million).

On the other hand, the number of passengers is growing more strongly in Norway and Sweden, whose air traffic is less affected by the closure of Russian airspace.

In 2024, passenger numbers at the airports of the Norwegian airport company Avinor amounted to 95% of the 2019 numbers.

At Swedavia airports in Sweden, that figure was 81%. In 2024, a total of 51 million (+5%) passengers travelled via Avinor airports, and more than 32 million (+1%) passengers travelled via Swedavia airports. Both in Europe and globally, the passenger numbers for 2024 have already exceeded those of 2019.

Out of the 19.6 million passengers travelled via Finavia’s 20 airports in 2024, 16.3 million travelled via Helsinki Airport.

The year was particularly good at Lapland airports, where the total number of passengers increased by 19%.

"We work closely with airlines, local tourism organisations and regional actors to improve Finland's air connectivity and route selection. In 2024, there were about 130 direct routes from Finland to different destinations around the world," said Petri Vuori, Finavia's Senior Vice President responsible for route development.

The number of passengers travelling via Helsinki Airport increased moderately year-on-year, reaching 16.3 million (+6.5%) in 2024.

The number of transfer passengers departing on international flights was 1.6 million (+3.9%) at Helsinki Airport.

Tourism in Lapland, however, continued its historic growth. In 2024, a total of 1.8 million passengers (+19%) travelled via Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo, Kuusamo and Kemi-Tornio airports in Lapland.

In 2023, the number was 1.5 million. Of the airports in Lapland, Rovaniemi, Kittilä and Ivalo in particular increased their passenger numbers.

The number of passengers travelling via Rovaniemi Airport reached a record 948,000 (+29%).

A record number of new routes were added for Rovaniemi Airport, and there are now a total of 41 direct routes to the airport from European cities. In Lapland tourism, there is a strong trend of increasing direct routes with scheduled flights in addition to the traditional charter flights.

A total of 3.3 million (+10%) passengers travelled via Finavia's regional airports last year. In 2023, the number was 3 million.

The increase in leisure travel and the decrease in business travel is an international trend that is also apparent in Finland.

Of all the international flights at Finavia airports in 2024, flights to and from Germany, Sweden, Spain and the UK had the largest passenger numbers.

Passenger numbers also increased on flights to and from traditional Mediterranean destinations, such as Greece (+9.2%), Croatia (+7.7%), Italy (+6.9%) and Spain (+6.0%). Outside Europe, the most popular destinations were Japan, the United States and Thailand.