CPH traffic figures: 81.8 percent fewer travelers in July
In the usually very busy July, only 565,910 traveled through the terminals at Copenhagen Airport. That's 81.8 percent less than last year. Travel patterns have also changed significantly. Norway has ousted Britain and London from the throne as the largest travel destinations from Copenhagen.
"The good news is that the number of passengers is growing. The bad news is that the restart is going very slowly. In the normally busy July, we have had 18,000 passengers through the terminals every day this year. Last year it was 100,000 daily," says commercial director at Copenhagen Airport, Peter Krogsgaard.
From June to July, the number of travelers grew from 151,085 to 565,910 - a marked growth, but still almost 82 percent less than July last year, when 3.1 million traveled through the airport.
International aviation organizations such as ACI estimates that it may last until 2022-2024 before traffic is back at the level from 2019. The airport is therefore preparing to be able to operate with less activity for a longer period. A vaccine can change the picture just like other things can come into play - and therefore the uncertainties are great.
"It has become very difficult to predict the future. The world is so uncertain right now that we are no longer working with forecasts but with broad scenarios. Our best bet right now is that this year we will end up with 30-35 percent of the traffic that we had last year, "says Peter Krogsgaard.
Fewer employees in CPH
In the half-year accounts published last week, it is estimated that CPH, despite savings on operations and postponement of projects for approximately DKK 1 billion, will come out of 2020 with a deficit of DKK 450-750 million. Therefore, the airport is now discussing with the unions how a planned closure of 650 of the 2,500 full-time positions in the airport itself should be implemented.
"It is a necessary but also incredibly sad decision. We have fought as long as possible to avoid having to lay off skilled employees. But there is simply not enough traffic and activity for the employees we have today," says commercial director Peter Krogsgaard .
New travel patterns: Norway tops
Corona epidemic and the many travel restrictions around the world have also changed travel patterns. Measured by country, traffic to the normally sovereign top destination UK in July fell by 90 per cent from 265,431 last year to 25,282.
Thus, the UK is down as number seven on the list. New in the driver's jersey is Norway, which has experienced the smallest drop in traffic of 72 percent - from last year 237,261 to 67,015 this year.
In July, the top ten travel countries were Norway with 67,015 travelers, Germany 53,965, Denmark (domestic flights) 52,533, Spain 45,384, Iceland 35,587, France 27,972, Great Britain 25,282, Greece 24,588 and the Faroe Islands with 22,647 travelers.
The fact that Denmark is high on the list is due to the fact that domestic traffic is not as badly affected as foreign traffic. In July, the decline on European routes was 81.3 percent, and even more on the intercontinental long-haul routes to Asia and the United States as much as 94.4 percent, while the number of passengers on domestic routes fell by 41.4 percent. This is also reflected in the top-10 list of destinations, where Aalborg is now number two, surpassed only by Oslo.
Including the two normal months in January and February, there have been 5,587,225 passengers through the airport to date - a decrease of 68.2 percent.