There were increases in both domestic traffic and international air traffic. As a result, Rovaniemi set an all-time passenger volume record, and Oulu was once again in the million-passenger club. Tourism in Lapland is recovering to almost the same level it was in its peak years.
A total of 20,083,297 passengers (19,691,612 in 2014) travelled through Finavia's airports in 2015, an increase of 2.0% compared to the previous year. 26% of the passengers took domestic flights and 74% international flights.
Lapland airports also set new records. Lapland is now again near the peak years in passenger volumes, as the passenger volume was over one million: 1,007,011 (973,953 in 2014). The year 2008 was the last time this took place in Lapland.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, there was a total of 5,057,573 passengers (4,830,179 passengers in October–December 2014). The volume increased by 4.7% compared to October–December 2014.
International air traffic continues to grow
The passenger volume in international air traffic increased by 1.5% in 2015 and amounted to 14.9 million (14.6).
The passenger volume at Helsinki Airport increased by 3.0% from 2014 to 16,422,266 (15,948,838) at the end of December. Compared to 2014, the volume increased by 473,428 passengers. The volume of international passengers increased by 2.9%, and domestic travel grew by 3.4%.
In October–December, 4.0 million passengers flew via Helsinki Airport. The increase was a significant 5.5% compared to the same period in 2014.
All in all, the number of transit passengers at Helsinki Airport increased by 3.1% from the previous year and was 2.6 million (2.5). The majority of Asian passengers at Helsinki Airport were from Japan and China.
“The demand for air traffic is still continuing to increase rapidly, and we are powerfully involved in the growth, which can be seen in the record-breaking passenger volumes. We believe that the good growth in transit traffic between Europe and Asia will also continue next year. Signing a partnership agreement with the biggest Asian airport was a significant step for us in strengthening our position. The appeal of Lapland as a tourist destination also shows in the air traffic figures”, says Joni Sundelin, director at Finavia.
The number of commercial aviation landings continued to decrease to 113,290 operations last year, which is 1.7% less than in 2014. The passenger volume has not decreased in proportion to the number of landed aircraft, which means that air traffic is more efficient than before due to high aircraft occupancy rates and larger aircraft sizes.
