The number of passengers at Sweden’s airports continues to bounce back – Airport World
A total of 2.9 million passengers passed through Sweden’s airports in August as the country and its aviation industry continued to recover from the global pandemic.
It was the third month in a row that nearly three million passengers used Swedavia’s 10 airports, which include Stockholm Arlanda, Gothenburg Landvetter and Malmö.
The airport operator notes that August was “dominated by continued seasonal demand for international travel, but also by increased demand for domestic travel in connection with the start of school and work”.
It adds: “The queue for the security checks at Stockholm Arlanda Airport has further stabilized and is now normal. Meanwhile, punctuality improved significantly at Arlanda, as the airport continued to top the list of comparable European airports in August. But the airline industry is still dominated by operational challenges in the post-pandemic restart.”
Passenger numbers in August were almost 90% higher than in August 2021, but still 24% below pre-pandemic levels.
Swedavia’s president and CEO Jonas Abrahamsson says: “The recovery in aviation continued in August with high passenger pressure at our airports, above all at Arlanda. This applies to international travel, which is normal for the time of year, but also to domestic travel, which accelerated in the second half of August as people returned to school and work.
“We can see that the pent-up need to meet again after more than two years of pandemic has not yet subsided. This is despite challenges for the airline industry this past summer along with growing economic concerns, which may affect demand for flights going forward.
“Queuing at Arlanda has stabilized significantly and is back to normal, thanks to a combination of our measures and our security provider’s continued recruitment efforts.
“Punctuality across Europe remains a challenge. However, we note that punctuality at Arlanda improved significantly in August and that Arlanda remains one of the best on-time performers among comparable airports in Europe.”
During the month, the queue time at Arlanda security checkpoints was less than 15 minutes for approximately 90% of all passengers, including only for Terminal 5. Security checkpoints in the other terminals at the airport continued to have normal seasonal waiting times.
At the same time, Swedavia’s security supplier, Avarn, continues the recruitment work to meet the staffing needs this autumn. Another 50 or so employees are expected to start working at the airport’s security controls in September.
Punctuality improved significantly at Arlanda in August compared to July. According to preliminary figures from Eurocontrol, punctuality was around 78% in August, meaning that Arlanda topped the punctuality list for major European airports during the month.
Of the total of 2,836,000 passengers in August, 2,163,000 were international and 673,000 domestic passengers. This corresponds to an annual increase of more than 100 percent for international travel and 60 percent for domestic travel.
Stockholm Arlanda Airport had 1,928,000 passengers, making August the third month in a row that the airport had almost 2 million passengers. International travel continued to increase, with more than 1,653,000 international passengers. There were a total of 275,000 domestic passengers.
Overall, travel at Arlanda increased by more than 100% compared to 2021, but is still around 20% lower than 2019 volumes.
Gothenburg Landvetter Airport had a total of 475,000 passengers in August. International travel increased by more than 70% compared to the same month in 2021, while domestic travel increased by 140%. Travel at the airport was about 25 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
Stockholm Bromma welcomed 97,000 passengers during the month, an increase of more than 50% from August 2021, but a 45% decrease compared to the same month in 2019.
It was a similar story for August passenger growth at Malmö Airport compared to August 2021 – it handled 128,000 passengers last month – although the total was 70% below pre-pandemic levels.
Elsewhere, performance varied at Swedavia’s six regional airports. Compared to trips in 2019, Luleå Airport fared best, with the third largest number of domestic travelers during the month, after Arlanda and Bromma.
Since the pandemic began 30 months ago, Swedavia has lost more than 67 million passengers compared to 30 months before the pandemic.