CPH Traffic report: The Busiest February Ever
The two million passengers meant that the spring half-term holiday was the busiest February ever in the Copenhagen Airport's history - a rise of 1.9%. When it comes to the 5.7% increase in the number of transfers, the Hong Kong route made a particular impact. Meanwhile, in Europe, Vienna is growing in popularity as a destination.
The urge to travel to and from Copenhagen Airport remains relentless. This February, 1,995,479 travellers passed through the terminals, making it the busiest February ever. This amounts to an increase of 1.9% when compared to the same month last year. In the spring half-term holiday week alone, there was a total of 728,183 travellers. That amounts to 2.1% more than last year.
It is still the long-haul routes out of Europe that play a major role in terms of the increase in passenger numbers. In February, intercontinental traffic increased by 10.8%. The progress of the long-haul routes is also a decisive factor when it comes to the number of transfer passengers travelling via CPH, which grew by 5.7%. 50% of the progress in February was the result of the SAS Hong Kong route.
"For example, the intercontinental route to Hong Kong mean that travellers from Scandinavia and Northern Europe have the option of starting their long-haul trips in Copenhagen, instead of travelling via major hubs such as Frankfurt, London and Amsterdam. This is crucial if we are to retain and develop the role of Copenhagen Airport as the most important gateway in Northern Europe," says Thomas Woldbye, CEO.
SAS is responsible for 80% of transfer traffic in Copenhagen, while airlines such as Air Canada, Air China, Air India and Qatar Airways also made an impact on the increase in transfer traffic in February.
In February, Europe experienced a less impressive growth of 1.2%. London is still number one in the Top 10 list of destinations. Further down the list, the popularity of Vienna as a destination is growing significantly. The capital of Austria has climbed to number 21 on the list with 27,000 travellers in February. That is a 22% increase.
In addition to Austrian Airlines' 28 departures a week, the airline Laudamotion has been flying the route 4 times a week since late October 2018. Starting in late March, the company Level will have seven scheduled departures a week.
"The fact that the route between Vienna and Copenhagen is growing is particularly due to the fact that we now have more travel options. In our experience, more people travel when there are several departures and several airlines to choose from. In other words, when this third airline starts flying the route, we also expect to see more progress," says Thomas Woldbye.
While the number of passengers on international routes is increasing, the number of passengers on domestic routes dropped by 7.8% to 108,930. One of the reasons is that the airlines have 7.6% fewer departures on their schedules.
In the first two months of this year, 3,967,646 travellers passed through the terminals. This amounts to an increase of 2.1% when compared to the same period last year.
Contact Information
External Relations / cphpresse@cph.dk / +45 3231 2800