Although the company has faced significant losses over the last 15 months pent-up travel demand alongside the vaccination programme is providing hope for the future

Last month, it was recorded that 446,000 passengers were served by Swedavia’s ten airports – a decrease of 88% compared with 2019 figures.

“May was another travel month strongly affected by the pandemic, and so far no recovery has been seen in passenger figures, either at our own airports or elsewhere in Europe,” said Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s president and CEO.

Domestic travel decreased by 83% to 192,000 compared with 1,156,000 two years ago. This phased better than international traffic, which recorded a 90% decline compared with 2019.

The second largest reduction occurred at Bromma Stockholm in May, where traffic declined by 91% to 21,000.

Stockholm Arlanda – Sweden’s largest airport – saw an 88% decrease in passenger numbers last month compared with the same period in 2019. Again, international travel was the worst hit, dropping by 90% to 185,000, with domestic falling by 80%.

Gothenburg Landvetter similarly experienced an 89% drop to 64,000 customers last month.

However, although data still remains poor, Abrahammson believes that recovery is within reach.

“In time for summer, we see that conditions both for travelling and for safer travel have improved,” he explained. “Airlines are resuming and expanding service, though on a smaller scale compared to before. The spread of the coronavirus is slowing as the vaccine rollout continues, and we also see countries starting to open up and travel restrictions being lifted.”

He reiterates that this improvement “depends entirely on progress in vaccination efforts and on nothing unforeseen happening with the pandemic”.

Kiruna Airport, whilst still badly affected, recorded the most promising figures with a 59% drop.

Since the pandemic began 15 months ago, Swedavia has recorded a loss of 42 million passengers.