Air traffic gained momentum in the airspace, new destinations appeared on the departure board, and two new tails landed at Aarhus Airport. That is the short summary of the travel year at the East Jutland airport, where 422,003 passengers passed through the completely modernized Aarhus terminals.
As a result, this year’s passenger figures fall just over 15 percent below the 2019 record, which is mainly attributed to the standstill in the first three months of the year when the pandemic still dominated the international travel scene. Conversely, the summer months saw the highest passenger activity ever, and the airport set a summer record in June, July, and August. Overall, Aarhus Airport experienced a 215 percent increase in passenger numbers from 2021 to 2022. The airport expects the positive trend to continue.
“Air traffic really took off from May, and the summer charter guests and the attractive destinations offered by the airlines boosted the passenger numbers. In the fall, KLM and Wizz Air joined the tailfin club at Aarhus Airport, and we opened new routes to Amsterdam, Bucharest, and Stockholm Bromma, which also gave us a good boost,” says Brian Worm, CEO of Aarhus Airport.
Airborne foreign traffic Foreign and charter traffic accounted for almost two-thirds of the total travel traffic in 2022. Thus, 301,573 passengers traveled to and from Gdansk, Hurghada, Corfu, Riga, London, Zadar, Milan, Oslo, Malaga, and a range of other destinations, representing a 271 percent increase in international travelers compared to 2021. Compared to the record year 2019, the airport experienced a five percent decline among charter and scheduled passengers to international destinations in 2022. But that is in the past. The order book at Aarhus Airport points toward a record-setting 2023.
“We have created a really good mix of destinations that match the East Jutland business community, either with direct routes or via stops in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or London Stansted, and that is reflected in the forecasts for 2023. Vacation travelers are prioritized with more capacity to Mallorca, a new route to Faro, and a wide selection of classic city and sun destinations. Shortly, we will present a super attractive flight route with a new airline at Aarhus Airport, and we are confident that it will be well received by both target groups,” continues Brian Worm.
The Faro route is operated by Ryanair, which also expands with a new route to Palma de Mallorca from Aarhus at the end of March. At the same time, the Irish airline increases capacity to London Stansted by 29 percent in 2023, which means there will be nine weekly departures from Aarhus Airport.
Domestic flights, carried out between Aarhus and Copenhagen, as well as the summer route to Bornholm, experienced an increase of nearly 130 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. Aarhus Airport aims to reach an annual passenger volume of 1.5 million travelers in the coming years.