Number of passengers at Finnish airports plummeted in 2020

In 2020, altogether 6.5 million passengers flew through Finnish airports, which was only one-quarter of the number of passengers in 2019. The number of passengers in international air transport decreased by 78% and that in domestic air transport by 66%, according to Statistics Finland's data.

There were 5.1 million passengers at Helsinki Airport and a total of 1.4 million passengers at other domestic airports. Helsinki Airport accounted for 79% of all passengers at domestic airports.

In January to February, the number of passengers was still on level with the previous year, but in mid-March the global Covid-19 pandemic temporarily stopped air traffic almost completely.

During the summer, the number of passengers in air traffic recovered slightly but the end of the year was again declining. In all, 76% of the passengers in air transport in 2020 flew in January to March. In April to December, the decrease in the number of passengers was 92% compared with 2019.

International flights

Altogether, 69% of the passengers were from international flights and 31% from domestic flights. Of the passengers at Helsinki Airport, 80% were from international flights. At Turku airport, the share of passengers in international traffic was 78% and at Tampere-Pirkkala airport 53%.

A total of 20 per cent of the passengers at the other domestic airports came from international flights. Ninety-seven per cent of the passengers at Helsinki Airport flew on scheduled flights and three per cent on chartered flights.

At the other domestic airports, 12% of the passengers flew on chartered flights.

Compared with the previous year, the number of passengers in air transport dropped by over 80% at the airports of Savonlinna, Jyväskylä, Tampere-Pirkkala, Kokkola-Pietarsaari, Joensuu, Enontekiö, Vaasa and Kajaani.

In relative terms, the number of passengers decreased least at the airports of Kuusamo (-38%) and Kittilä (-43%).

In 2020, air freight and mail transport decreased by one-third from the previous year. Freight and mail transports amounted to 147,210 tonnes in total, and 97% of the tonnes were transported through Helsinki Airport.