In the first quarter of 2013, Finavia’s airports served in all 9.4 million passengers (9.8 million in 1−6/2012). Passenger volume decreased by 4.4% compared to January–June 2012. The speed at which passenger volume decreased slowed down during the second quarter and was 1.7% when compared with the same time previous year.
The number of commercial aviation landings decreased by 7.1% in January–June. The decline in number of landings also slowed down in the second quarter.
Transit traffic increased strongly in the second quarter
Passenger volume at the Helsinki Airport remained at the previous year’s level at 7.5 million passengers. International transit traffic increased by 4.7% compared with the same period in previous year. In the second quarter, growth was as much as 6.6% from the same period in 2012.
“The strong position of the Helsinki Airport in transit traffic is key to the whole air traffic in Finland and comprehensive connections to Europe. We are extremely satisfied with the positive development of Asian and transit traffic especially in the second quarter. New routes, such as Finnair’s routes to Hanoi in Vietnam and Xi’an in China, support Helsinki Airport’s status as the leading transit airport in northern Europe,” says Joni Sundelin, Director of Airport Networks, Marketing and Sales at Finavia.
Domestic passenger volume continued its steep decline
Passenger volume on domestic flights decreased very rapidly in the first half of the year with the decline being 14.6%. The overall number of passengers was 2.6 million.
“Unfortunately, the decline in domestic travel has continued all through the beginning of the year and was almost 11% even in the second quarter. Even though the decline has evened out somewhat, domestic passenger volume has not developed as expected. It does not seem likely that we will see considerable growth in domestic passenger volume in the long run either and it is likely that passenger volume will remain very low in many places,” says Sundelin.
In provincial airports, the passenger volume including both domestic and international traffic grew slightly only in Rovaniemi (4.4%) and Ivalo (2.2%) during the first part of the year. When compared to first quarter of 2012, passenger volume declined steeply in Turku (-30.3%), Pori (-26.3%), Oulu (-26.1%) and Jyväskylä (-25.4%).
International air traffic at previous year’s level
International passenger volume of Finavia’s airports, including scheduled and chartered services, reached the level of the previous in January–June and was 6.8 million. In the second quarter, travel both to Europe and elsewhere grew.
In the first quarter, growth was strongest in travel to China (15.8%), India (9.6%) and Hong Kong (9.0%). Spain (9.2%), France (14.4%) and Turkey (24.9%) showed most growth among the important destinations in Europe. Clear decline was seen in Thailand (-12.5%) and some European destinations.
Transit traffic and international air traffic engines for the rest of the year
“Passenger volume of transit traffic and international traffic developed as expected in the first part of the year and we expect them to keep on growing in the latter part of the year. Due to the positive development of transit traffic and international traffic, we estimate that as a whole the passenger volume at Finavia's airports in the latter part of the year will remain at the same level as the corresponding period of time in 2012,” concludes Sundelin.
Finavia publishes monthly traffic statistics, which are available at http://www.finavia.fi/about_finavia/trafficstatistics/. In this press release, all percentages of change describe the development in the first half of 2013 compared to the first six months of 2012. Correspondingly, the development of the second quarter of 2013 has been compared with the second half of 2012.
