Air traffic statistics published by Finavia show the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on air traffic and airport operations. In total, the number of passengers for all Finavia airports fell by 20.1% in January-March 2020. In March, Helsinki Airport’s passenger numbers were down 57.2% compared with the same period last year.
“The coronavirus pandemic has made itself felt in many ways at Finavia’s airports,” says Kimmo Mäki, CEO Finavia. “All of us operating at airports have been worried about the safety of passengers. The epidemic, which became a worldwide pandemic outbreak in only a few weeks, has affected the entire industry in very significant and far-reaching ways. The situation has also had an effect on airlines and companies that operate at airports, as well as jobs and investments.
“According to the current estimate, the impact of the decrease in air traffic on Finavia’s turnover will be over €100 million. We estimate that this year’s total number of passengers may be a third lower than last year. This is a much more dramatic drop than what air traffic has ever experienced before.
“In order to overcome this challenging situation together with the airport community, we have provided our tenants and partners with significant relief. We have also decided to continue the ongoing Helsinki Airport Development Programme for the time being in order to guarantee Finland’s accessibility and competitiveness also in the future.”
In total, the number of passengers for all Finavia airports fell by 20.1% in January-March 2020. In March, Helsinki Airport’s passenger numbers were down 57.2% compared with the same period last year.
In January 2020, the number of passengers was still growing moderately, following the trend from the previous year. As COVID-19 spread in Asia, the number of passengers declined significantly in February, particularly on routes to and from China. The impact of the pandemic is most obvious in the statistics for March, in which the number of passengers on routes to and from China fell by 95.8% compared with the previous year.
As the epidemic spread to Europe, European airlines’ demand decreased significantly due to restrictions imposed by the authorities and reduced travel. In March, there were about 4,000 passengers (-89.5%) on routes to and from Italy and 84,000 passengers (-56.3%) on routes to and from Spain. 298,000 passengers (-55.0%) travelled on domestic flights in March, and the number fell sharply towards the end of March as the travel restrictions imposed by the authorities came into force. Out of the larger airports, the number of passengers fell the most in Oulu (-26.0%), Kittilä (-13.5%) and Rovaniemi (-12.0%).
Helsinki Airport’s current situation
On a normal day, an average of 57,000 passengers would pass through Helsinki Airport. At the moment, the airport serves only a little over 1,000 passengers per day, and the number keeps falling. On 19 March, Finavia closed the check-in and baggage drop-off operations at Terminal 1 at Helsinki Airport and any services located in the lobbies. This means that all remaining flights will be operated through Terminal 2. Runway 3 was closed for the time being on 1 April.
At the moment, all travellers arriving or leaving the country must go through border control, and everyone arriving in Finland also needs to go through the health check-up points operated by the health authorities. Finavia has also taken many measures to make the terminals less crowded and reduce the risk of infection.
International flights are only operated from Helsinki Airport, Turku Airport and Mariehamn Airport. Meanwhile, in addition to Helsinki Airport, domestic services are currently operated from: Kuopio, Mariehamn, Oulu, Rovaniemi, and Savonlinna.
The situation across Finavia’s network may change as the epidemic continues. As the volume of domestic passenger traffic decreases temporarily, Tampere Airport and Jyväskylä Airport remain open for the purposes of international and domestic freight, security of supply, ambulance flights and the operations of the Finnish Defence Forces.
