2.7 million passengers travelled through Copenhagen Airport in October, making it the busiest autumn month ever. Despite the record number of passengers, there are fewer departures and arrivals at Copenhagen Airport than five years ago. The airlines’ newly launched winter programme offers 229 routes out of Copenhagen.
Many chose to extend the summer with a trip during the autumn school break. At Copenhagen Airport, this generated intense activity as 2.7 million passengers passed through the terminals in October – eight per cent more than in the same period last year.
“The appetite to see the world is still strong. Several days during the autumn break were every bit as busy as the peak summer holiday season. While many headed for southern destinations to soak up the sun, others chose to visit one of Europe’s many big cities. Similarly, a lot of foreign tourists travel to Copenhagen and Denmark, which is an extremely popular destination,” says Peter Krogsgaard, Chief Commercial Officer of Copenhagen Airports A/S.
Fewer flights
Despite the growing number of passengers, there are fewer flights departing from and arriving at Copenhagen Airport. During the month of October, 21,805 passenger flights took off or landed at Copenhagen Airport compared with 23,174 in the same period of 2019.
“The figures show a six per cent drop in the number of flights departing from and arriving at the airport compared with 2019, when passenger numbers were roughly the same as today. This is a really positive trend, explained by the fact that many airlines use newer and larger aircraft and that the cabin factor – the number of seats sold – is higher,” says Peter Krogsgaard.
Favourite destinations this autumn
Spain was the clear autumn favourite with 237,000 passengers travelling between Copenhagen and Spanish destinations such as Malaga, Barcelona and Mallorca in October. Once again, London was the single most popular destination with 166,000 passengers travelling between Copenhagen and one of the three London airports of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. There are up to 22 daily departures from Copenhagen to London with one of the five airlines operating routes to one of the three London airports.
The strongest passenger growth was seen on the routes to Italy. 23 per cent more passengers travelled on the routes to and from Italy compared with October last year. Milan was the fastest growing Italian destination with 65,000 passengers – 26 per cent more than the same time last year.
When it comes to destinations outside Europe, the USA is one of the absolute favourites. More than 126,000 passengers travelled between Copenhagen and a US destination in October, which was 24 percent more than in October last year. New York City is without contest the most popular US destination. One in three passengers travelling to the USA flies to and from New York.
Several new routes from Copenhagen in the winter programme
Towards the end of October, the airlines launched their winter traffic programme with 12 new routes from Copenhagen Airport. So far, the winter programme offers 229 routes out of Copenhagen operated by 55 different airlines. That is five more routes than last year.
“It is an exciting winter traffic programme the airlines have embarked on, and we are very pleased with the way it is developing. The programme includes brand new routes as well as new airlines launching services on existing routes. This not only opens up even more opportunities to travel the world from Copenhagen – it also gives visitors from around the world better access to Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark,” says Krogsgaard.
This winter’s news includes several non-European routes. For example, Norwegian is launching routes to Dubai, Agadir in Morocco and the Sphinx Airport near the pyramids in Cairo. Air Greenland is launching a direct service to Nuuk, and SAS will add flights to Bangkok over the winter and thus offer a daily direct service to Thailand’s capital from the end of January.
In addition, SAS is launching new direct routes to Rovaniemi, Finland, and Kiruna, Sweden, and is also resuming its winter route to the Scandinavian Mountains Airport near the Sälen and Trysil ski resorts. Southern European ski destinations will also be in focus over the winter season, and Austrian Airlines is launching a new route to Innsbruck.
The airlines’ winter programme will run until 29 March 2025.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
