Passenger figures for November – headwinds in aviation continues

– It is international traffic that drives the development with a positive growth of 6 percent, while domestic traffic has had a weak development throughout the year and has increased by 1 percent compared to 2022, says Gaute Skallerud Riise, VP of Traffic Development at Avinor.

– For the international market, there are significant differences between the airports, where Tromsø currently attracts a lot of international attention and has had strong development into the winter season. This is related to a great interest for the Northern Lights and the Arctic experience among tourists, which has resulted in more direct routes to Tromsø this winter. In November, international traffic at the airport is nearly doubled compared to the same month in 2019, Riise continues.

The number of flight movements is 5 percent lower than in November 2022 and 11 percent lower than in November 2019.

– The number of flight movements decreased by 5 percent, driven by a 7 percent decline in domestic traffic. Airlines have reduced the number of flights in line with a weaker market, and at the same time, the airline Flyr is no longer operating in the market. As a result, the domestic market has been characterized by the highest load factor in a long time (the number of passengers divided by the number of available seats) in recent months, Riise concludes.

Passenger numbers

2,429,918 passengers traveled domestically in November. This is 1 percent more than the same month last year and 6 percent fewer domestic travelers than in November 2019.

With 1,313,779 international travelers in November, traffic abroad increased by 6 percent in November 2023 compared to November 2022. It is still 15 percent fewer than the same month in 2019.

So far in 2023, 18 percent more people have traveled international via Avinor's airports compared to 2022.

Flight movements

There were 50,655 commercial flight movements in November. This is 5 percent fewer than in November of the previous year. Compared to November 2019, there were 11 percent fewer flight movements in November 2023.

Year to date compared to 2019

There have been 10 percent fewer passengers this year compared to the same period in 2019.

The number of flight movements so far this year is 8 percent behind the 2019 figures. See all figures in the attachment 11.2023.

100 percent increase in drone flights

In November, 1,393 drone flights were reported in Ninox Drone - Avinor's drone management system.

– This is an increase of 62 percent compared to November 2022, says Axel Knutsen, who leads Avinor's drone program.

– So far this year, the increase is 100 percent compared to last year. These are strong numbers, especially considering the challenging weather conditions in many parts of the country during autumn and winter..