Strong growth at Copenhagen Airport: Close to 27 million travellers
With almost two million passengers in December, 2023 was the busiest year at Copenhagen Airport in four years. 26.8 million travellers passed through the terminals, which is 21 per cent more than the year before.
Travellers are back in earnest at Copenhagen Airport, and 2023 was in fact the best year since 2019 with 26.8 million passengers. On the busiest days of the year, which were the two days immediately preceding the schools’ summer and autumn breaks, more than 100,000 travellers passed through the terminals.
“Throughout 2023, we experienced an ever-increasing appetite for travelling. This applied to both business and leisure travel, and we are very pleased to see a 21 per cent increase in the number of travellers compared to the previous year. Two out of three passengers are holidaymakers, and both Danes and southern Swedes use Copenhagen Airport when they fly out to see the world,” says Peter Krogsgaard, Chief Commercial Officer of Copenhagen Airports A/S.
More than half of all travellers using Copenhagen Airport live in Denmark or Sweden. The rest are primarily passengers travelling to Copenhagen from other European countries and North America – and their numbers are growing.
“Copenhagen is a very popular destination, and the number of tourists wanting to experience the Queen’s – soon to be the King’s – fantastic city is increasing. We should be proud of that. Many want to experience cool Copenhagen and Danish “hygge” – our famed version of easy living and a cosy relaxed atmosphere. The Danish gourmet scene with great restaurants and the green and innovative approach to life also attracts many tourists. And we expect even more visitors in 2024,” says Krogsgaard.
More new routes out of CPH
The many travellers have also got many more airlines to choose from. Over the year, sixty different airlines operated no less than 321 routes to 164 destinations at Copenhagen Airport. This is the highest number of routes since 2018.
“We are delighted that more airlines are choosing Copenhagen Airport, and that we are able to offer even more options for travelling to different destinations from Copenhagen. This helps to strengthen our position as the most important traffic hub in northern Europe,” says Krogsgaard.
London still the favourite – and more travellers to the USA
The UK was the most popular country to travel to in 2023. There were almost 2.6 million passengers on routes to the UK last year, with London being the absolute favourite destination. There were more than 1.8 million passengers on routes between Copenhagen and airports in the British capital, making London the most popular destination out of Copenhagen.
Almost 2.9 million travellers – or around ten per cent of all passengers – flew to destinations outside Europe. CPH provides thirty direct long-haul routes to destinations in Africa, Asia and North America. The routes to North America are doing particularly well, and the number of passengers travelling to the USA is now back to 2019 levels.
“The routes to the USA are doing really well. More than one million passengers travelled between Copenhagen and one of the eight US airports providing direct connections. The USA is the ninth most popular country to travel to, and it looks like the trend is continuing,” says Krogsgaard.
This summer will see the addition of another new direct route from Copenhagen to the USA when the world’s largest airline, American Airlines, plans to open a new route to Philadelphia.
