New Record Set in Christmas Flights to Lapland as Finavia’s Air Traffic Soars 187% in 2022

Vantaa, Finland, 2023-Jan-17 — /Travel PR News/ — According to Finavia’s latest annual statistics on air traffic, 15.4 million passengers passed through Finavia’s airports last year. A new record was set in Christmas flights to Lapland, and Helsinki Airport’s European flights have recovered excellently.

“We are actively working with airlines and tourism organisations to strengthen flight connections. In 2022, Finland had 130 direct flight destinations around the world. Last year, the number of passengers increased especially on European flights,” says Petri Vuori, airport company Finavia’s Senior Vice President, Sales and Route Development.

A total of 15,405,024 passengers travelled through Finavia’s airports in 2022. Of these, 78% took an international flight and 22% a domestic one. The number of passengers increased by 187% compared to last year.

The total number of flight operations, i.e. takeoffs and landings, at Finavia’s airports was 167,409, which is 83% more than in the previous year.

The most popular flight destinations from Finavia’s airports were Stockholm, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Copenhagen. Of all the international flights, the largest number of passenger was on the flights to Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK and France.

Helsinki Airport’s European flight connections have recovered excellently

In 2022, Helsinki Airport had a total of 12.9 million passengers, 87% of whom were international passengers and 13% domestic passengers. Flight connections to Europe and the United States have recovered excellently. However, the share of transfer travelling between Asia and Europe remained small, as a result of which only about 70% of the travelling at Helsinki Airport returned compared to the period before the pandemic.

Lapland’s airports hit a new record in December

In December, a passenger record was broken at Lapland’s airports. A total of 364,834 passengers travelled through Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo, Kuusamo and Kemi-Tornio airports in December 2022. At Rovaniemi Airport alone, the number of Christmas passengers increased by 40% (158,757 passengers) and at Kittilä Airport by 13% (101,868).

Altogether, 1.2 million passengers travelled through Lapland’s airports in 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 93%.

“Already about half of the flights to Lapland are scheduled flights. Regular scheduled flights are very important for the region’s appeal, residents and livelihoods. They attract passengers from a wider area than the city of departure, thanks to their comprehensive connecting flights,” says Petri Vuori.

A total of 2.5 million people travelled through the regional network airports, which is 126% more than last year.

Statistical summary and the development in 2022, 2021 and 2020

​	January–December/2022	January–December/2021	January–December/2020
Total passengers at Finavia’s airports	15,405,024 +186.5%	5,376,841 -16%	6,400,670 -75%
Passengers at Helsinki Airport	12,882,861 +202.3%	4,261,431 -16%	5,053,206 -77%
Departing international transfer passengers at Helsinki Airport	1,551,465 +294.7%	393,089 -45%	713,626 -80%
Total freight volume at Finavia’s airports	173,770 -3.1%	178,684 +21%	147,296 -37%
Freight volume at Helsinki Airport	171,198 -3.0%	175,765 +23%	141,332 -38%
Total number of commercial flights at Finavia’s airports	167,409 +82.7%	91,635 -2%	93,640 -63%
Total number of commercial flights at Helsinki Airport	129,278 +89.0%	68,403 -1%	69,287 -64%

The statistics are published on Finavia’s traffic statistics -web page.

Media Contact:

comms@finavia.fi
tel. +358 20 708 2002

Source: Finavia

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