CPH opened the summer season with 2.5 million air travellers in June, the busiest month since Covid struck in 2020. Greece is the preferred destination for charter tourists, with Crete as the favourite. Overall, however, Spain is the most preferred country for holidaymakers by some margin.
The summer holiday season is off to a brilliant start at Copenhagen Airport. A total of 2,535,445 passengers passed through the CPH terminals in June, which represents a 12 per cent year-on-year improvement.
“We’ve had a flying start to the summer season, with lots of activity at the airport and close to full flights. About nine in ten travellers have returned compared to pre-Covid figures, not least on routes to southern European destinations,” says Chief Commercial Officer Peter Krogsgaard of Copenhagen Airports A/S.
A total of 180,000 passengers were headed to Spanish destinations in June, including Màlaga, Mallorca and Barcelona. That made Spain the preferred destination country ahead of France, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
This summer, travellers have 177 direct routes to 52 countries to choose from. Twelve new routes opened in June alone, including Montreal, Bordeaux, Naples, Palermo, Newquay and Zadar.
Great start to the summer holidays
Everyone at the airport has worked hard to be prepared for the high season. A total of 7.5 million travellers are expected to pass through the airport during the three summer months, and CPH has hired more staff for security, passenger services and cleaning services.
“The school summer holidays began on Friday 23 June, and everyone was ready. We had a very good first summer holiday weekend with 93,404 travellers on Friday and 94,896 on Sunday, so although we had fantastic weather and plenty of sunshine in Denmark in June, our urge to seek the sunny climes of southern Europe seems stronger than ever. Besides, the weather forecast is now for normal summer temperatures over the next couple of weeks,” says Krogsgaard.
Charter tourists favour Crete
While Spain is the most popular country for holiday travellers in general, Crete tops the list when it comes to charter tourists. In terms of seats available, destinations in Greece have increased by 36 per cent compared to pre-Covid times.
“Crete is the absolute favourite among Danish charter tourists, with more than 30,000 travellers in June. Next on the list is Rhodes and this year’s fastest riser, Larnaca in Cyprus,” says Krogsgaard.
As always, London tops the list of the ten most popular destinations, with 160,000 travellers in June, followed by the two major Nordic destinations, Oslo and Stockholm. European hubs like Amsterdam, Paris and Vienna are also in the top ten.
New full-year guidance
In response to the growing urge to travel, CPH issued a company announcement yesterday with an upgraded full-year guidance.
The total number of travellers expected in 2023 was raised from 25 to 26 million.
In addition to the increase in passenger traffic, the upgrade was also based on the agreement reached between Naviair and the air traffic controllers, which has reduced the uncertainty as to the number of aircraft operations that can be carried out at Copenhagen Airport.
This post was published on 12 July 2023 18:41
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