In April-June 2014, Finavia airports served a total of 5.1 million passengers (9.7 million in January-June 2014). Q1 saw a healthy increase in demand, and passenger volumes have also continued to grow in Q2. The overall growth of the early part of the year has been 4.0%. This positive development is the result of an increase in international air travel and transit travel.
Aviation traffic landing figures decreased by 2.1% in the early part of the year, which together with the increase in passenger volumes indicates that Finnish operator aircraft utilisation rates have improved.
Further strong increases in transit traffic in Q2
Helsinki Airport passenger volumes increased by 4.5% in April-June, with the number of passengers totalling 4.1 million. International traffic increased by 5.1% compared to the same period in the previous year. The number of passengers transferring from one international flight to another continued its strong growth. The increase in the number of international transit passengers was as high as 9.5% in Q2.
From the start of the year, passenger volumes at Helsinki Airport have shown an increase of 4.7%.
"International transit travel through Helsinki Airport is growing rapidly, and our position as an important transit airport has been further strengthened. We can be very happy with this development because it proves the significance of Helsinki Airport and its subsequent appeal as an air traffic hub between Europe and Asia. "With our airline customers, our goal is to further increase the volume of international transit travel at Helsinki Airport," says Joni Sundelin, Finavia director responsible for airport network services, marketing and sales.
Domestic passenger volume on the rise
Domestic flight passenger volumes continued to increase slightly in April-June in comparison to last year’s corresponding period. The total number of passengers was 1.2 million, an increase of 1.2% on last year’s figures. From the start of the year, passenger volumes have increased by 2.9%, and are currently standing at 2.7 million passengers.
"The positive trend in domestic passenger volumes has continued in the early part of the year. However, domestic flight ticket prices have steadily risen over time on specific routes, thus affecting the demand for flights. It is clear that Finnish air traffic competitiveness has decreased in general, and over short distances in particular. As a result, passengers are using other methods of travel, such as the train instead of flying," says Sundelin.
Regarding network airports, passenger volumes - including both domestic and international traffic – saw their highest increases in Oulu (14.3%), Savonlinna (9.4%) and Joensuu (7.7%). The most noted decline in passenger volumes took place between January-June in Kokkola-Pietarsaari (-11.3%), Kajaani (-8.1%) and Tampere (-10.3).
International air travel shows rapid increase
The international passenger volumes of all Finavia airports, including scheduled and chartered services, increased by 4.4% in January-June and stood at 7.0 million passengers. In Q2, the pace of growth followed that of Q1 and passenger volumes increased by 4.7%. Travel to Europe and the rest of the world increased by almost 5%.
Of the important Asian destinations, Japan (+24.6%) and China (+13.7%) recorded strong growth. Regarding significant locations in Europe, Spain (12.0%) and the Czech Republic achieved the strongest levels of growth. The number of trips to Russia decreased by 8.1% in Q1, but passenger volumes increased by 3.6% in Q2.
Helsinki Airport prepares to serve 20 million passengers by the early 2020s
The continuous growth of international air traffic and transit travel requires more capacity at the airport. Launched last year, the development programme’s main focus is on increasing check-in and transit travel capacities, and on improving overall traffic arrangements. The aim is to ensure that Helsinki Airport will be able to maintain its strong competitive position in relation to transit traffic between Europe and Asia.
The Helsinki Airport development programme 2014–2020 will cost approximately 900 million euros and is expected to have an employment impact of around14,000 person-years. When annual airport passenger numbers reach 20 million within the next ten years, there will also be close to 5,000 permanent positions in different companies operating across the airport.
Finavia publishes monthly traffic statistics, which are available at
http://www.finavia.fi/en/finavia-corporation/statistics/Statistics-2014/
Unless specified otherwise, the percentages of change given in this press release describe the developments in April-June 2014 as compared with the corresponding period in 2013.
