A total of almost 3.9 million passengers travelled through Avinor’s airports in February. This is 1.6 per cent more than during the same month last year. The number of aircraft movements at Avinor’s airports decreased by almost 1,000 flights, which constitutes 1.4 per cent.

“The trend we have seen in the past year continues with an increase in the number of passengers and a decline in the number of aircraft flying. This is complex, but larger aircraft and more passengers per flight are contributory factors,” says Jasper Spruit, Vice President Traffic Development with Avinor.

“More passengers at Norwegian airports is important for Norwegian business and tourism and benefits the Norwegian economy.”

It is particularly travel between Norway and Germany that has contributed to Avinor’s overall traffic growth in February. There were 18 per cent more passengers between Avinor Oslo Airport and Munich in February this year compared to last year, and new routes to Munich from Bergen and Tromsø also made their mark.

“We are fairly certain that the nordic skis world championships in Seefeld have been a strong reason for increased traffic between Norway and Munich,” Spruit explains.

Bergen with the greatest increase
Avinor Bergen Airport in particular stands out with an increase in passengers. Almost 440,000 passengers used Avinor’s second largest airport in February, an increase of 4.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

It is especially new routes to Paris with Air France, Helsinki with Finnair and Widerøe’s new year-round routes to Liverpool, Munich and Hamburg that have contributed to the increase.

“This is very pleasing. In partnership with Avinor we are working hard to attract more visitors in the winter season. The hotel statistics are also a good read this winter. The fact that there is growth in both air passengers and hotel guests is an indication that hard and purposeful work pays off,” says Tourism Director with the Bergen Tourist Board, Anders Nyland.

There is also a certain increase in domestic traffic to Bergen. Bergen – Trondheim at 12 per cent and Bergen – Stavanger at 4 per cent. Bergen – Tromsø stands out, and saw a huge increase of 24 per cent in February.

“Widerøe’s focus on emphasising Bergen as a hub to the fjords and the north is very interesting. The routes to Tromsø and Bodø have been significantly strengthened in recent years, and from April Widerøe will reinforce this further by increasing from two to three departures to Tromsø. The route from Bergen via Bodø to Lofoten will also be strengthened. Passengers can look forward to these routes being primarily operated with Widerøe’s new Embraer E190-E2 jet aircraft,” says Øystein Skaar, interim Airport Director at Bergen Airport.