An Eventful Year at Aalborg Airport

With 1,423,024 passengers through Aalborg Airport in the past year, there were 4.8 percent more travelers than in 2022, with a greater increase in international travelers and a slight decline in the number of domestic travelers. Additionally, there were numerous new route announcements in Europe and across the Atlantic, the recognition as Denmark's best airport for the third consecutive time and various initiatives strengthening the airport for the future and increasing travel options to exciting new destinations.

Thus, 2023 was an eventful year at Aalborg Airport, and 2024 has been welcomed with expectations for continued positive development, focusing on route development, initiatives for sustainability, and excellent customer experiences.

Historic Route Opening Set the Standard for 2023

Departure boards at Aalborg Airport were regularly updated throughout 2023 with numerous route openings, including destinations like Alicante, Barcelona, and Reykjavik. The most significant, of course, was the direct non-stop route to New York with SAS, where Aalborg Airport made history as the first airport in West Denmark with a direct non-stop transatlantic route. Despite an early closure, the route generated significant international awareness for Aalborg and North Denmark – a positive impact on regional tourism and Aalborg Airport as an international airport.

- VisitDenmark, Destination Nord, Invest in Aalborg, and many other Danish stakeholders joined forces to establish a historic route from Aalborg. It succeeded, and the hard work can be built upon in the coming years. What remains is an achievement that created invaluable awareness of the region and the airport, which holds great value for the further development of new routes in collaboration with airlines, says CEO Niels Hemmingsen, adding: It is evident that there has been generally good momentum in international traffic in 2023, where we grew almost 22 percent compared to 2022. In addition to the growth on existing routes like Malaga and Amsterdam, it is worth highlighting new routes to the Spanish destinations Alicante and Barcelona, both of which have been expanded in the summer schedule for 2024, starting in April with two weekly departures each.

A Competitive and Attractive Airport

In 2023, various initiatives were implemented with great significance for the ongoing development of Aalborg Airport as a modern and international airport, competitive and attractive to travelers, airlines, and tour operators. Investments were made in the overall development of the airport, initiatives for sustainability, and route development. The ambitious plans for the airport led to a change that most travelers will remember 2023 for: Paid parking was introduced, requiring a fee of 20 DKK for 24 hours of airport parking.

- Going from free to paid will never be well received by everyone, but now we have Denmark's cheapest airport parking, where 20 DKK has relatively little impact on individual travelers but significant importance for the airport's development. Investments will be made in attracting new routes – focusing on prominent hub destinations like Frankfurt and Paris, as well as direct non-stop routes to Eastern Europe and Northern Italy. The sustainability transition continues to play a significant role in the aviation industry, where we took important steps in 2023, including showcasing the possibilities of sustainable aviation fuel with Norwegian leading the way, and the journey towards having the first sustainable domestic route from Aalborg by 2025. That journey continues in the new year, also considering the new aviation taxes, where our role as an airport is to implement concrete measures in favor of the sustainability transition in the Danish aviation industry, Niels Hemmingsen states.

The Journey Begins at Aalborg Airport

Good customer service and travel experiences are what shapes Denmark's best airport, and at Aalborg Airport, this is a focus every day. This was recently recognized by the airport's partner KLM, where their travelers in 2023 ranked Aalborg Airport as the European airport with the best customer experience.

To support the positive customer experiences, there has been increased activity at the airport recently, with tour operators Ruby Rejser and NILLES Rejser moving into the airport, and Bravo Tours and SunCharter having a pop-up office at the airport once a month. Most recently, Best Travel has announced its arrival in the new year, adding another tour operator with a permanent base at Aalborg Airport.

2023 also marked the beginning of a brand new initiative to create more activity at Aalborg Airport and highlight that this is where the journey begins. The airport's own travel fair, "Aalborg Rejsefestival," premiered in January, and on Sunday, January 28, the success will be repeated with a significant expansion of the festival's area, featuring over 30 travel providers, including new participants such as airBaltic, Atlantic Airways, Apollo Rejser, FDM Travel, Mixx Travel, and TUI.

What do we Expect from 2024?

The new year has just begun, but it is already clear that there is much to look forward to in 2024. The route map will once again expand when Norwegian opens the direct non-stop route to Madeira on February 6 and then the direct non-stop route to Nice in June. Additionally, it was recently announced that Ryanair will open a direct non-stop route to Girona and the fantastic Spanish Costa Brava coast.

- We have a very good route program from Aalborg Airport in 2024 – also during the winter season, where we have news like Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and La Palma, as well as Madeira just around the corner. At the same time, KLM now has four daily departures year-round, significantly boosting travel activity. Whether there are more news for the summer program, we cannot say yet, but efforts are being made for new travel options from Aalborg, which we hope to annonce in the near future. In any case, even though 2023 was an exceptionally eventful year, we have high expectations for 2024, Niels Hemmingsen concludes.