November turns out to be a better month for Sweden’s airports – Airport World
Sweden’s airports received their largest monthly recovery since the start of the global pandemic when 1.7 million passengers passed Swedavia’s 10 gateways in November.
The sum meant that for the first time since covid, almost 60% of passenger volumes returned in a single month. Swedavia warns, however, that the Omicron variant and new restrictions create renewed uncertainty about developments in the short term.
– The recovery in air travel continued in November and the passenger volume reached the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic during the month, says Swedavia’s President and CEO Jonas Abrahamsson.
“The easing of restrictions and the EU’s digital covid certificates will facilitate human mobility, as well as an increased range of destinations and routes. However, the pandemic is not over, and the spread of the new Omicron variant is worrying.
“A lot is still unclear about the variant’s mutations and the effect of current vaccines. New travel restrictions can therefore affect people’s opportunities to travel at least in the short term.
“For everyone who is going to travel, it is now extra important to stay up to date on the rules that apply to your own trip. Restrictions can be changed and introduced at short notice.
“Of course, we must also all together help to limit the spread of the virus by following the recommendations of our travel and testing experts. At our major international airports, there is the opportunity to test both on arrival and departure.”
Of the more than 1.7 million passengers who flew via Swedavia’s airports in November, 1.1 million were foreign passengers and 605,000 domestic passengers, which corresponds to a 41% reduction in international travel and a 44% reduction in domestic travel compared with October 2019, before the pandemic.
Overall, however, air travel increased by 348% in November compared with November 2020.
The number of passengers at Stockholm Arlanda, Sweden’s busiest airport, decreased by 41% to 1.1 million in November 2019, with international and domestic figures still 41% and 43% below pre-covid levels for the month.
Compared with November 2020, which was also strongly affected by the pandemic, passenger volume increased by 358%.
Gothenburg Landvetter Airport handled a total of 262,000 passengers in November, a decrease of 45% compared to November 2019 while Stockholm Bromma welcomed over 95,000 passengers, which was a decrease of 53% compared to the corresponding period two years ago.
At Swedavia’s seven regional airports, the reductions in November 2019 varied between 30% and 51%, with all reporting better performance during the same month last year.
Air travel at Swedavia’s ten airports has decreased by 55.6 million passengers since the pandemic began 21 months ago.