AARHUS – THE VIKING CITY – GETS READY TO SHINE AS EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE IN 2017

2016 culminated in continued growth at Aarhus Airport as December generated +7% international traffic improvement year-on-year at the gateway airport to Denmark’s 2nd and Scandinavia’s 5th largest city. Overall the airport recorded a +5% total climb in passenger numbers with the domestic market remaining level, an increase in connecting travelers via the SAS hub at Copenhagen, while direct flight international traffic accelerated by +22% across the year. UK demand proved continually strong with a +5% increment in London passengers year-on-year delivering over 4,000 additional footfall to existing services, while 2016 was also positive across the Nordic region.

“2016 has been a great year, despite general turbulence in the European market, our existing services – especially international – have produced some very positive results and domestic traffic has been level and robust”, said David Surley – Head of Airline Relations. “We now step into a very exciting year ahead with December’s announcement by Czech Airlines of new service to Prague, plus a new international destination by SAS among other developments, and of course – most importantly – Aarhus becomes 2017’s European Capital of Culture. Probably the most exciting episode in Aarhus’ very illustrious history!”

Saturday 21 January is the formal opening ceremony for ‘Aarhus 2017’ which the city will mark by way of a large public celebration including 5000 participant performers, a 1000-strong choir, a feature performance by Faroese singing sensation Eivør and carrying the Viking spirit of Denmark’s largest port into 2017, the streets will be illuminated by onlookers holding small Viking vessels as six giant long-ships parade their way to Dokk1, Aarhus’ recently opened award-wining waterfront centerpiece. The year ahead includes hundreds of cultural events, performances, sporting events, art installations, concerts in Aarhus and the surrounding towns, cities and region of East Jutland which will also be European Capital of Gastronomy in 2017. Feature events range from state ballet and orchestral pieces, a city-wide art expo, to music acts Justin Bieber and Radiohead first gigs in Aarhus. Several million additional visitors both domestic and international are expected to visit the city which has seen continued double-digit visitor growth in recent years, as one of Europe’s fastest growing destinations prior to becoming European cultural capital.

“Aarhus Airport will be an integral part of the city’s celebratory year and in January will see a giant ‘Aarhus 2017’ signature placed on the terminal’s air-side façade, welcoming visitors to the region and symbolic of the Rainbow Panorama – the most popular feature at ARoS Art Museum in the city centre; Denmark’s most visited museum attraction seen by over 1 million tourists each year”, explained David Surley.

“A new 4 x weekly year-round service to Prague starts this summer as well as a new seasonal service to Malaga by SAS and Sun-Air (British Airways) is slightly increasing service to Stockholm Bromma from this month. As Nordic-Baltic traffic has been very positive in 2016 including a large jump in connecting traffic to Iceland, Finland, Latvia & Lithuania, we are very optimistic about continued growth in Scandinavian demand as well as elsewhere in Europe”, he said. Czech Airlines opens Aarhus service on 11 May with ATR aircraft and connections to a number of East and Southern European destinations, marking an increase in overall capacity from mainland Denmark to the Czech capital and adding Scandinavia’s 5th largest market to their network.  Greater Aarhus is home to a metropolitan area population of 1.38 million inhabitants.