09.09.2011

The growth of air traffic continued at Finavia airports in August

The rapid growth of air traffic has continued in the summer. In addition to Helsinki-Vantaa airport, traffic volumes have particularly increased in Oulu and Lappeenranta this year. The increase in all of Finland during the period from January to August was 17.4%, which is also internationally good. The rapid growth is based on the more extensive offering.

New operators, such as Norwegian, American Airlines, and the most recently, Flybe, have entered the market. Airlines that already had connections to Finland have increased the number of flights on their routes. Especially the growth in Asian traffic shows as a positive trend in Helsinki-Vantaa's passenger volumes. Passenger volumes of Finavia's other airports have also increased.

"The more extensive offering of network and low-cost airlines has introduced a healthy competition in the market. This has shown to passengers as more inexpensive prices, for example," says Kimmo Ruotsalainen, Finavia's Marketing Director.

Helsinki-Vantaa's number of passengers has also grown considerably. The increase in January through August is 17% compared to the same period last year, and the increase in August is 12.9%. Most of this results from an increase in transit flight volumes at Helsinki-Vantaa

"Transfer passengers now amount to 28% of all passengers at Helsinki-Vantaa and we focus even more on this at the airport. The good position and quick plane change opportunities of Helsinki-Vantaa give it a strong position in the transit travel between Europe and Asia.

As of May, Helsinki-Vantaa has provided a direct connection to Singapore every day. In addition, a new destination, Chongqing in China, will become available in spring 2012.

In addition to Helsinki-Vantaa, the passenger volumes of Oulu and Lappeenranta airports have increased extensively. Air traffic has increased by tens of percents at those two airports. Air traffic in Oulu has increased by 38% and in Lappeenranta by as much as 100% during 2011. It is predicted that the number of passengers will exceed 900,000 in Oulu and 120,000 in Lappeenranta, which would be new records.

"Finavia actively follows the development of the market in the latter part of the year. Changes taking place in the European and the global market may quickly affect air traffic, and the growth during the rest of the year is likely to be more moderate.

Finavia is strongly committed to the via Helsinki strategy and is confident that the traffic between Asia and Europe will continue to grow.

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