The recovery in air travel continued in November. During the month, more than 2.3 million passengers in all flew via Swedavia's ten airports. Demand is being driven by airlines' continued investments in service, mainly via Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where international travel during the month approached pre-Covid levels. The strong recovery also continued at a number of Swedavia's regional airports, led by Luleå Airport.

"We can see that air travel continued to recover in November despite global uncertainty and the rising cost of living and given that demand in November is normally a relatively weaker month. The autumn school break satisfied the market's wishes for destinations, and we saw increased demand in both international and domestic travel. The queue situation at all of our airports was stable, with normal wait times for the season. This is in spite of the fact that we had our most travel-intense days of the year during the autumn break, especially at Arlanda," says Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia's president and CEO.

"We also note that demand for air travel looks set to continue and remain at a stable level for the foreseeable future. The market indicates that this strong demand for travel will continue. Preparations for travel over the Christmas and New Year's holidays are now fully under way at our airports in order to welcome all of our holiday travellers, new passengers and well as returning ones. Among other measures, we have added extra terminal hosts who will be available on site to assist our passengers, and we have put together some tips in our communication channels for our passengers as they prepare for their journey," says Jonas Abrahamsson.

Swedavia's ten airports had more than 2.3 million passengers overall in November, a 35 per cent increase compared to the figures in November 2021. During the month, Swedavia had 1,604,000 international passengers and 738,000 domestic passengers, which corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 43 per cent for international travel and 22 per cent for domestic travel. In November, travel overall was 78 per cent of the level in 2019, before the pandemic.

Stockholm Arlanda Airport had a total of 1,548,000 passengers. International travel continued to increase, with 1,242,000 international passengers. Meanwhile, the number of domestic passengers totalled 306,000. Altogether, travel at Stockholm Arlanda increased 40 per cent compared to the same period last year, which is 18 per cent lower compared to the figures in 2019.

Göteborg Landvetter Airport had a total of 353,000 passengers in November. International travel increased 37 per cent compared to last year, while domestic travel increased 26 per cent. Air travel overall was 26 per cent below the levels in 2019.

Bromma Stockholm Airport had a total of 117,000 passengers in November, an increase of 23 per cent compared to November 2021. Air travel was 42 per cent lower compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Malmö Airport had a total of 105,000 passengers in November. That is an increase of 19 per cent compared to November last year. All in all, air travel was 68 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The trend for travel at Swedavia's six regional airports varied in November. Compared to travel in November 2019, Luleå Airport continued to have the strongest trend and, after Stockholm Arlanda and Bromma Stockholm, was also the airport with the most domestic passengers in November. Domestic travel at the airport was nearly on a par with the pre-pandemic level.

In December and early 2023, a number of additional air routes will be launched at Swedavia's airports:

Luleå-London, SAS, December 2022
Luleå-Düsseldorf, Eurowings, December 2022
Kiruna-Düsseldorf, Eurowings, December 2022
Arlanda-Valencia, Ryanair, January 2023
Arlanda-Innsbruck, Eurowings, January 2023
Arlanda-Lyon, Norwegian, January 2023

Since the start of the pandemic 33 months ago, Swedavia has lost 71 million passengers compared to the 33 months before the pandemic.

More detailed information about Swedavia's traffic figures and statistics is available (in Swedish) on Swedavia's website: Statistik | Om Swedavia

Tips for passengers before their journey: Everything you need to know before your trip | Stockholm Arlanda Airport (swedavia.com)

For further information, please contact Swedavia's press office at +46 (0)10-109 01 00 or [email protected].

The Swedavia Group owns, operates and develops ten airports across Sweden. Our role is to create the access Sweden needs to facilitate travel, business and meetings. Safe, satisfied passengers are the foundation of Swedavia's business. Swedavia is a world leader in developing airports with the least possible environmental impact. In 2021, the Group had annual revenue of about 2.7 billion Swedish kronor and nearly 2,300 employees.