Passenger numbers up by 11% %
The year 2004 was brisk for air traffic, with vigorous
growth over the previous year. Passenger numbers rose by
11 % overall and there were 5 % more landings than during
2003.
A total of 14.6 million passengers (departures, arrivals
and transit) passed through Civil Aviation Administration
airports, of which Helsinki-Vantaa accounted for 10.7 million,
a rise of 11 % over 2003. Passenger growth at Oulu, Finland’s
second largest airport, amounted to 15 %. In terms of passenger
numbers, Tampere-Pirkkala surpassed Rovaniemi to become
the country’s third biggest airport, catering for
almost 500,000 passengers, that is 63 % more than during
2003.
International traffic grew most at Tampere-Pirkkala (+85
%), Kuopio (+77 %) and Jyväskylä (+73 %). The
biggest rises in domestic traffic occurred at Tampere-Pirkkala
(+22 %), Oulu (+18 %) and Kittilä (+12 %). The largest
relative falls in passenger numbers took place at Varkaus
(–17 %), Pori (–14 %) and Savonlinna (–9
%) airports.
The favourable trend in commercial aviation landings continued
throughout the year. The greatest growth was at Tampere-Pirkkala
(+15 %) and Kuopio (+11 %). Overflights increased by 10
per cent whilst the number of overflight kilometres increased
by a total of 12 % over 2003.
Christmas traffic to northern Finland has been busy in
recent years and expectations were high for Christmas 2004
too. Yet even these were exceeded, with December international
charter passengers increasing by 17 % on 2003. The relatively
largest growth in international charter passenger numbers
occurred at Ivalo (+32 %) and Rovaniemi (+26 %). The largest
number of international landings in December took place
at Rovaniemi and Kittilä. The biggest relative increases
in landings overall occurred at Kemi-Tornio (+80 %) and
Kajaani (+125 %).
Growth in international air traffic was extremely positive
during 2004. Within Europe, most flights from Finland were
to Swedish, German and Spanish destinations. The greatest
relative rises in passenger numbers were to Turkey (+35
%) and Germany (+31 %). Beyond Europe, the most popular
destinations were China, Thailand and the United States.
The most significant destinations to show the highest relative
increase were Morocco (+160 %), China (+118 %) and Egypt
(+79 %).
Diagrams:
