The number of passengers at Swedish airports decreased by 3.5 percent last year, according to recent figures from the Swedish Transport Agency.

All ten airports owned by state-owned airport operator Swedavia had declining passenger numbers.

The total number of passengers at the 38 airports last year amounted to just over 37.9 million, which is a decrease of 3.5 percent compared to 2018. The number of domestic passengers decreased by 8.9 percent, while the number of international passengers decreased by 2.2 percent.

”"Virtually all domestic routes show a decline in 2019. This is explained by the slowdown in the Swedish economy, but it cannot be ruled out that it can also be explained by increased environmental awareness and access to alternative modes of travel," says Jean-Marie Skoglund, aviation market analyst at the Swedish Transport Agency, in a press release.

The biggest decline were noted at the airports in Mora/Siljan, Karlstad and Jönköping, which all lost over 30 percent of their passengers. For Mora, the airport has lacked regular traffic during 2019, while Karlstad and Jönköping have been hit hard by the airline BMI's bankruptcy, notes the Swedish Transport Agency.

However, ten airports had more passengers last year than in 2018. In Kristianstad, traffic increased by 40 percent after the airline Bra opened a route to Bromma. The airports in Gällivare and Lycksele also noted strong increases of around 30 percent.

Notably, traffic at the ten airports owned by the state-owned airport operator Swedavia decreased. At the three largest – Arlanda, Landvetter and Bromma – traffic decreased by 4.5 percent, 2.0 percent and 5.9 percent respectively.

Source: di.se