The demand for air travel picked up in Finland in 2010

International air travel was clearly on a rise, increasing by 4.8% in 2010. Domestic air travel decreased by 6.1%. The total number of passengers increased by 1.6% Last year, Helsinki Airport was the leading airport in Northern Europe for long haul traffic between Europe and Asia.

A total of 16,462,600 passengers passed through Finavia’s airports, 27% of which were domestic passengers. Domestic passengers totalled 4,470,300 (-6.1%) and international traffic passengers 11,992,300. (+4.8%). Travel progress was significantly slowed down by the volcano eruption in Iceland in April and by industrial action in December.

The number of passengers in Lapland clearly decreased. A total of 829,900 passengers (-7%) passed through the Lapland Airports (Enontekiö, Ivalo, Kemi-Tornio, Kittilä, Kuusamo, Rovaniemi). The total number of international passengers was 184,000 (-8.2%).

In domestic traffic, the market shares of the leading airlines were: Finnair (51.7%), Finncomm Airlines (28%), Blue1 (17.2%), and others (2.9%).
The most important destination countries in international traffic were: Germany with 1,484,700 passengers (1.3%), Sweden with 1,119,200 passengers (7.8%), the UK with 974,100 passengers (3.9%), Spain with 907,800 passengers (-5.4%) and Denmark with 647,200 passengers (4.8%).
Helsinki-Vantaa’s Asian traffic increased

A total of 12,883,400 passengers (2.2 %) passed through Helsinki Airport. The number of international traffic passengers was 10,674,900 (4.3%) and the figure for domestic traffic was 2,208,500 (-6.9%). Over 2.2 million (+12.2 ) international transit passengers passed through the airport. International transit travel makes up around 21 of international passenger numbers at Helsinki Airport.

Helsinki Airport is the leading transit airport in Northern Europe for travel between Europe and Asia. A total of 1,417,000 passengers (6.1%) passed through Helsinki Airport in Asian traffic. The most important destination countries in Asia were: Japan (381,700 passengers), Thailand (332,400 passengers) and China (307,700 passengers). The number of passengers for Soul increased the most (44.7%).