Passenger traffic at Finnish airports plunged 89% in July

The tourism and travel industries are experiencing an unprecedented decline in 2020 due to the coronavirus. 

Two days ago, the Finnish flag carrier (Finnair) announced that it will cut 1000 jobs due to sinking demand for travel. Now, official figures confirm that traffic is minimal at airports. Even in July, the quintessential holiday month for Finns, the results have been devastating, despite improving compared to the April-June.

According to Statistics Finland, altogether 262,567 passengers flew through Finnish airports in July, which was 89% lower than one year before.

There were 216,851 passengers at Helsinki Airport and a total of 45,716 passengers at other domestic airports in July 2020. Helsinki Airport accounted for 83% of all passengers. Still, passenger traffic in Helsinki-Vantaa airport decreased by 90% and the combined number of passengers at other Finnish airports went down by 80% compared to July 2019.

However, the total number of passengers more than doubled compared with June 2020.

Source: Statistics Finland.

Risks of travelling

The reasons for this evolution must be found, on the one hand, in the border traffic restrictions approved by governments around the world, and in the fact that many Finns, given the risks and difficulties involved in traveling abroad, chose to spend their holidays in their own country. 

In this sense, according to Statistics Finland's latest figures, overnight stays by Finnish residents in accommodation establishments fell in the Helsinki area but increased outside the capital region. In other words, faced with the risks of traveling abroad, many people from Helsinki and surroundings chose to go to the Finnish countryside to spend their holidays.

Scheduled and chartered flights

In July, 74% of the passengers were from international flights and 26% from domestic flights.

Of the passengers at Helsinki Airport, 84% were from international flights. 99% of them flew on scheduled flights and 1% on chartered flights.

At the other domestic airports, 2% of the passengers flew on chartered flights.

January-July

In the January to July period of 2020 altogether 5.3 million passengers flew through Finnish airports, which was 65% lower than one year before. 71% of the passengers were from international flights and 29% from domestic flights.

There were 4.2 million passengers at Helsinki airport and 1.1 million passengers at other domestic airports. Helsinki-Vantaa accounted for 79% of all passengers at domestic airports.

In the same period, freight and mail transports amounted to 79,179 tonnes, which was 38% lower than one year before. 97% of the tonnes were transported through Helsinki-Vantaa.