About 85 percent of passengers at the country’s largest airport traveled internationally. The most popular destinations were Germany, Spain, Sweden and Great Britain.
Despite the increase in passenger numbers at Helsinki-Vantaa, the recovery has been slower than at many other European airports. According to Finavia, the reason is that the number of passengers transferring at the airport has not yet recovered due to the travel restrictions in force until the end of June and the closure of Russian airspace.
“Despite the small number of flights to Asia, Finavia’s airports still serve approximately 130 destinations around the world. We are constantly working to ensure that our country maintains good connections and that the world is close to us Finns. said Petri VuoriDirector of sales and route development at Finavia.
The recovery of air traffic from the coronavirus pandemic and the shortage of airport staff have recently caused serious congestion at airports around the world, including Helsinki-Vantaa.
Finavia also revealed on Wednesday that passenger numbers at its regional airports increased by 340 percent year-on-year to 1.1 million in the first half of the year. Oulu, Rovaniemi and Kittilä were the most popular destinations in Finland.
“The recovery in domestic traffic has been strong at airports that were already busy. Almost a million people […] traveled on domestic flights between January and June,” said Vuori. “The number of charter flights is also increasing.”
Jani JolkkonenIn June, the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority’s airport network manager questioned the rationale for subsidizing flights to domestic airports and warned that the longer subsidized flights continue, the less likely it is that market-driven demand for flights will recover.
“Even before the coronavirus pandemic, there were few passengers on publicly subsidized purchased flights. The planes were practically half empty, he considered.
“Compared to other modes of transport, flight subsidies increased considerably during the year […] pandemic. While state subsidies for other modes of transport are typically tens of euros per passenger, the subsidy for a one-way plane ticket was almost 1,000 euros on average in 2021, Jolkkonen said.
When the passenger pays less than 10 percent of the actual cost of the flight on purchased flights, approximately 60 percent of the costs are covered from tax funds as an airline subsidy and approximately 30 percent from Finavia.
He added that the Finnish government has already supported the five routes started during the pandemic with around 40 million euros, and in addition it has incurred another 40 million euros in losses from the operation of regional airports. Bidding for routes is currently underway for the third year in a row.
Finland’s goal is to halve its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, so it is important to take into account not only the financial effects of purchased flights but also the climate effects, Jolkkonen emphasized.
“On purchased flights, the emissions per passenger are multiple times compared to other modes of transport, because there are usually few passengers on the flights.”
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page