Flights through Sweden’s airports decreased by 70 percent. Now he has the same numbers as the early 80s

Swedish traffic statistics for December and all of 2021

During the month of December, nearly 1.6 million passengers traveled through Sweden’s 10 airports, a 44% decrease compared to 2019. For the whole of 2021, the number of passengers was around 12 million, down just over 70 percent compared to previous passenger levels. Pandemic 2019. 2021 was the second year in a row with a strong epidemic impact on air travel, which despite a recovery during the fall remained at levels similar to air travel during the early 1980s. Since the beginning of the pandemic, air travel at Sweden’s airports has decreased by 58 million passengers. Compared to the previous year, which was not affected by the epidemic during the first months of the year, the number of travelers increased by 16 percent in 2021.

The development through the end of 2021 was the strongest we’ve seen since the outbreak, although recovery slowed somewhat in December due to the state of the pandemic and new restrictions in Sweden and the rest of the world. Despite the strong recovery in the fall and many bright spots with significant investments and new institutions from our clients, especially in Arlanda, 2021 was another year with a strong impact on air travel, which has remained at levels since the early 1980s. Although recovery is expected to continue into 2022, the current epidemiological situation and seasonal weakness in January mean we expect a weaker development during the beginning of the year, says Jonas Abrahamson, President and CEO of Swedenvia.

Of the 1.6 million passengers in December, 1,059,000 were international and 530,000 were domestic. Above all, the start of the month was weaker, but during and before Christmas and New Year’s weekends, the demand for air travel was high, both in terms of domestic and international travel. Compared to December 2020, air travel increased by 290 percent in December, but compared to 2019 and before the pandemic, it has decreased by 44 percent.

For the whole of 2021, European traffic with 7.5 million passengers accounted for the lion’s share of international traffic with about 79 million passengers, but also air travel in total during the year for nearly 12 million passengers. Domestic travel totaled just over 4,000,000 passengers. Travel to the rest of the world was just over 380,000 passengers.

Copenhagen, followed by Amsterdam and Frankfurt, were the foreign destinations that received the most passengers in 2021 at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, which accounts for the vast majority of international traffic to and from Sweden. Amsterdam and Frankfurt were also the busiest foreign destinations at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport.

Sweden’s largest airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport, handled 1,024,000 passengers in December, which is an increase of nearly 280 percent compared to December 2020, but a 43 percent decrease compared to December 2019. In 2021, the total number of passengers At the airport 7.5 million passengers. Passengers, an increase of 15 percent compared to 2020, but compared to 2019, passenger levels were just under 70 percent.

The number of passengers at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport reached 243,000 in December. Compared to December of last year, the increase in the number of passengers was about 300 percent, but it decreased by 48 percent compared to December 2019. The airport was receiving just over 1,900,000 passengers during the whole of 2021, an increase of 21 percent compared to 2020, But the number of passengers is still just under 70 percent compared to what it was before the 2019 pandemic.

All other Swedish airports saw better passenger development in December compared to December 2020, but at levels that are sharply lower than the number of passengers in the corresponding month in 2019. Lulea airport followed by Kiruna showed the strongest recovery during the month compared to 2019.

Air travel at Sweden’s 10 airports has fallen by nearly 58 million passengers since the pandemic began 22 months ago.