AIR TRAFFIC CRISIS

Finnish airports have 82% fewer passengers than before the pandemic

A view of the Helsinki-Vantaa airport main hall with few passengers in July 2021. Photo: Foreigner.fi.
Helsinki-Vantaa accounted for 84% of all passengers at Finnish airports

The strict travel restrictions imposed by governments to deal with the coronavirus continue to take a high toll on the air traffic industry, which has see its second troubled summer in 2021.

According to the latest figures published by Statistics Finland, 422,785 passengers flew through Finnish airports in July.

On the positive side, the figure represents a 61% increase compared to the same period of 2020, the first year of the devastation caused by Covid-19. On the negative side, the number of passengers is still 82% lower than in July 2019, the summer before the outbreak of the pandemic.

Statistics Finland explains that last month's exceptionally high year-on-year relative growth is due to the "collapse of air traffic" due to Covid-19 last year.

In July, there were 356,408 passengers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and a total of 66,377 passengers at other domestic airports.

International flights

Helsinki-Vantaa accounted for 84% of all passengers at Finnish airports. The number of passengers at Helsinki airport was 83% lower and the combined number of passengers at other domestic airports was 71% lower than in July 2019.

In all airports in Finland, last month, 73% of passengers were from international flights and 27% flew domestic flights.

The share of passengers on international flights was 84% at Helsinki Airport and 12% in total at other domestic airports.