Air travel figures out: strong growth in the North, less in Helsinki

At the tourism-focused airports in the North, passenger numbers increased by a fifth last year. Helsinki has lagged behind its international peers.

Lapland and Helsinki attract tourists, according to a new report and statistics from state-owned Finavia.

Last year, the growth in air travel has been strongest at Finavia’s tourism-oriented stations in Northern Finland, such as Rovaniemi, Ivalo, Kittilä and Kuusamo.

They will increase passenger numbers by just under a fifth (19%) compared to 2023.

Almost 950,000 passengers passed through Rovaniemi Airport last year, which is a 29 percent increase compared to the previous year.

In Helsinki, the growth was seven percent, and 16.3 million passengers traveled. According to Finavia’s trend report, the growth of air travel in Helsinki has lagged behind its international counterparts.

The effects of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine reduce the growth of Finnish air traffic. Non-Chinese airlines cannot fly over Russia.

– With the Russian overflight ban, Helsinki has lost its position as a mediator of passenger flows between Europe and Asia, the report states.

Finnish tourism is polarised

According to the report, expanding international tourism to the rest of Finland has proven difficult.

The number of passengers at small airports such as Joensuu, Kajaani and Kemi–Tornio has decreased by more than 60 percent compared to the year before the corona crisis in 2019.

The reason is, among other things, a decrease in business travel. It is affected by the companies’ weak economic situation and climate responsibility, as well as remote work.

The company proposes that Finnish air traffic be changed to market conditions. It would mean the end of government purchasing service traffic in many provincial airports.

Climate change is not reflected in the behaviour of tourists

According to the report, climate change is worrying at the level of talk, but has not really affected Finns’ air travel.

According to Statistics Finland, Finns’ leisure air travel increased by ten percent in January–April 2024 compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, according to Finnair’s passenger data, more than half of the passengers at Helsinki–Vantaa Airport said they were worried about the climate effects of flying.

Finns’ vacation trips are mostly directed to Estonia and Sweden and the Mediterranean region. According to Finavia’s report, the discrepancy between words and actions can be seen concretely in Finns’ popularity of Mediterranean tourism.

– The headlines about the region’s record-breaking heat and wildfires have not affected Finns’ willingness to travel, the report states.

On the other hand, the popularity of train travel in Finland is strong, and in 2023 a record number of trips were made in VR’s long-distance train service.

In total, 19.6 million passengers passed through Finavia’s airports, which is seven percent more than in 2023.