Helsinki Airport consolidated its role as a hub between Europe and the most popular destinations in Asia for tourism and business during 2019. More specifically, the number of passengers to and from Japan and China increased sharply last year.
According to the latest data released by the main Finnish airport operator (Finavia), last year 21.9 million passengers (+4.9%) traveled through Helsinki Airport.
The number of passengers just transferring from one international flight to another at Helsinki Airport continued to grow and increased by 16.7%. Flights to and from Japan, Germany, China and Sweden had the most international transfer passengers. In fact, international transfer passengers amounted to 38.6% of all passengers passing through Helsinki Airport.
A total of 659,000 people (+18,2 %) traveled on flights to and from China in 2019. For the Japan routes, the number of passengers was 837,000 (+11,2 %).
New routes to China and Japan
Currently, flights are operated from Helsinki Airport to nine destinations in China. Last Autumn, three weekly flights also started to operate to Beijing's new Daxing International Airport.
Helsinki Airport also offers flights to five destinations in Japan, which is more than any other European airport offers. In December, Helsinki Airport opened Europe’s only direct connection to Sapporo.
”Helsinki Airport is still very successful in attracting passengers. Asian transfer passengers form a significant user group at Helsinki Airport as Finland’s geographic location between Asia and Europe is ideal for transfers. During the 2020 summer season, 53 weekly flights to China and 45 weekly flights to Japan will be operated from Helsinki Airport. The smooth travel and the high quality of customer service give us a competitive advantage. For example, many services are available in Chinese both at the airport and in our digital environments,” says Petri Vuori, Finavia’s Vice President, Sales and Route Development.
Other destinations
In addition, 1,644,000 passengers (-1.6%) traveling on the Sweden routes; 594,000 passengers on the Russia routes (+15,2%) and 323,000 passengers (+9.4%) on the Estonia routes passed through Helsinki Airport in 2019.
Around 439,000 passengers traveled to North America from Helsinki Airport in 2019, which is approximately 103,000 passengers more than in 2018 (+30,5 %). The number of flights offered from Helsinki Airport to North America has increased compared to last year. For example, due to the new route to Los Angeles that opened in March.
Turku, Oulu, Lapland and Tampere
Finavia defined 2019 as "a busy year at Finavia’s airports" even though growth in air traffic was more moderate than in previous years. A total of 26 million passengers (+4,2%) traveled on scheduled and chartered flights.
The number of passengers using Finavia’s other airports increased to a total of 4,2 million (+0,6 %). Out of the larger airports, the number of passengers increased the most at Turku Airport (453,000 users, +22,6 %), Helsinki Airport (+4,9 %) and Rovaniemi Airport (661,000 users, +2,6 %).
In Lapland, the international route with most passengers was from Rovaniemi to London. Rovaniemi airport also offers flights to Manchester. The most significant route opened during the winter time was from Rovaniemi to Istambul, launched in December.
A total of 1,5 million passengers (+1,5%) used Finavia’s airports in Lapland in 2019. The number of passengers declined slightly at Oulu Airport (1.1 million users, -3,6 %) and Tampere Airport (-2,5 %) due to a decrease in the number or flights.
According to Finavia, the North of Finland remains "still very attractive" considering that 1,5 million passengers (+1,5 %) used Finavia’s airports in Lapland in 2019.
