Over 5.2 million passengers used Finavia airports during the first quarter of 2017, up 6.9% on the same period last year.
The booming winter season saw passenger volume in Lapland’s airports increase by 21% and international transit travel increased to 4.5%. Of the 5.2 million, international passengers accounted for 69%.
Helsinki Airport’s numbers rose by 6.1%, in part due to the development of services by local tourism operators and the joint-targeted marketing of Finland. Nearby Tallinn and St Petersburg also benefited from Helsinki’s passenger flow.
Kari Savolainen, Finavia Oyj’s CEO, commented, “In terms of growth in tourism, this year started excellently. In addition to the positive development of growth in tourism, as the summer season approaches new routes are now being rapidly opened to Finland.
“Our active and long-running work in support of Finnish air traffic is producing results, and thanks to our efforts, new airlines have found Finland to be an attractive destination. The beginning of the year bodes well for the development of passenger numbers for the year overall.”
The number of Chinese transit passengers heading to Lapland rose by 167% thanks to the festive period.
“Many entrepreneurs in Northern Finland have said that demand for their services has grown significantly,” said Savolainen. “Our statistics support this news coming out of Lapland, because our northern airports have had many more passengers this year than in the same period last year. The air traffic growth strongly invigorates the economic life of the region.”