Swedavia’s traffic statistics for December (-44% vs 2019) and the full-year 2021 (-70% vs 2019)

In December, nearly 1.6 million passengers flew via Swedavia’s ten airports, a decrease of 44 per cent compared to 2019. For the full-year 2021, the total number of passengers was nearly 12 million, a decrease of more than 70 per cent compared to passenger volume in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. As a result, 2021 was the second straight year that air travel was heavily impacted by the Covid pandemic. Despite the rebound during the autumn, air travel remained at levels comparable to those seen in the early 1980s. Since the start of the pandemic, air travel at Swedavia’s airports has now fallen by 58 million passengers. Compared to 2020, which was unaffected by the pandemic during the first few months of the year, passenger volume increased 16 per cent.

“The trend at the end of 2021 was the strongest we have seen since the start of the pandemic, although the recovery slowed somewhat in December due to the Covid situation and new restrictions in Sweden and the rest of the world. Despite the strong autumn rebound and many bright spots, including important new routes launches and investments by our airline customers, notably at Stockholm Arlanda, 2021 was another year in which air travel was greatly affected by the pandemic, with passenger volumes comparable to those seen in the early 1980s. While the recovery is expected to continue in 2022, due to the ongoing pandemic and a seasonally weak January, we expect a weaker trend for the start of the year,” says Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s president and CEO.

Of the 1.6 million passengers in December, 1,059,000 were international passengers and 530,000 were domestic passengers. It was mostly the start of the month that was weaker. Demand for air travel, both domestic and international, was high in the period leading up to and during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Compared to December 2020, air travel increased 290 per cent in December but compared to 2019, before the pandemic, it decreased 44 per cent.

For the full-year 2021, European traffic, which totalled 7,500,000 passengers, constituted the lion’s share of international traffic, which totalled nearly 7,900,000 passengers, but also of all air travel during the year, which totalled nearly 12 million passengers. There were more than 4,000,000 passengers in domestic traffic, and more than 380,000 passengers in air traffic to the rest of the world.

In 2021, Copenhagen was the international destination with the most passengers at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, followed by Amsterdam and Frankfurt. The airport accounts for by far the largest share of international traffic to and from Sweden. Amsterdam and Frankfurt were also the international destinations with the most traffic at Göteborg Landvetter Airport.

Sweden’s largest airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport, had 1,024,000 passengers in December, which was an increase of nearly 280 per cent compared to December 2020 but a decrease of 43 per cent compared to December 2019. In 2021, the airport had a total of more than 7,500,000 passengers, an increase of 15 per cent compared to 2020, but passenger volume was more than 70 per cent lower compared to 2019.

Göteborg Landvetter Airport had a total of 243,000 passengers in December. Compared to December 2020, passenger volume increased nearly 300 per cent, but it decreased 48 per cent compared to December 2019. The airport had more than 1,900,000 passengers for the full-year 2021, which was an increase of 21 per cent compared to 2020, but passenger volume was still more than 70 per cent lower than in 2019, before the pandemic.

Swedavia’s other airports all had a better passenger trend in December 2021 compared to December 2020, but passenger volumes were well below those for the same month in 2019. Luleå Airport saw the strongest rebound, followed by Kiruna Airport, compared to 2019.

Air travel at Swedavia’s ten airports has decreased by a total of nearly 58 million passengers since the start of the pandemic 22 months ago.