Copenhagen Airport gaining strength as an international hub
Two million passengers passed through Copenhagen Airport in November. That is a 12 per cent increase year on year. The number of transfer passengers has improved by 40 per cent in the last twelve months, strengthening the airport’s position as the largest hub in northern Europe.
Fortunately, the extraordinary appetite for travel continued during the autumn months, and the pax numbers for November totalled 1,957,215 passengers passing through the CPH terminals. A growing number of passengers are using Copenhagen Airport as a stopover on their journey to destinations around the world. In November alone, the airport served a total of 350,000 transfer passengers, 60,000 more than in November of last year.
The majority of transfer passengers at Copenhagen Airport fly in from airports in Sweden, Norway or Denmark. It is more efficient and has less of a climate impact for airlines to gather its passengers and fill a flight to Chicago, for example, or other long-haul destinations.
“We are very pleased with the increase in the number of transfer passengers. We are not yet on a par with pre-Covid traffic volumes but with eight out of ten transfer passengers back we are on the right track. That strengthens our position as a key traffic hub, and it shows that we are an attractive airport with a comprehensive route network,” says Peter Krogsgaard, Chief Commercial Officer of Copenhagen Airports A/S.
During the first eleven months of 2023, the number of transfer passengers passing through Copenhagen was up by 40 per cent compared to last year. This means that this year – so far – more than 4.4 million transfer journeys have been made in to and out of Copenhagen Airport, the vast majority being passengers travelling with SAS.
North America in a strong position
The increase in the number of transfer passengers is primarily due to the growing popularity of routes from Copenhagen to the USA and Canada. North American destinations are strongly represented at Copenhagen Airport, as the winter programme includes nine routes to eight destinations in the USA and Canada.
“The routes to the USA and Canada are performing extremely well. In fact, we have now more routes than we did in 2019, and we are seeing many passengers from Sweden and Norway using Copenhagen as the starting point for their journey to the USA. The same goes for traffic coming the other way. A growing number of Americans are travelling to Denmark, and for many of them, Copenhagen is the starting point of their onward journey in Europe,” says Krogsgaard.
Busy days ahead of the Christmas holidays
December is a busy time for people preparing for Christmas. Once again this year, London is a big favourite, and with up to 21 daily departures to the British capital, there are plenty of flights to choose form.
“London is the most popular destination out of Copenhagen all year round, but this is especially true in December, when many people take a weekend break or a few days in December to soak up that special London atmosphere”, says Krogsgaard.
On the other hand, December and January among the quieter months of the year at Copenhagen Airport. Still, it will be busy at the airport during the days leading up to the holidays.
“We expect that the busiest day of the Christmas season will be Friday 22 December, when some 80,000 passengers will be flying in to or out of Copenhagen. And we anticipate quite the opposite on 24 and 25 December, which will be the quietest days with only around 35,000 passengers passing through the airport,” Krogsgaard explains.
