September was the eighteenth consecutive month with rising passenger numbers for Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport. But competition from Stockholm’s Arlanda is getting tougher. Arlanda’s growth has surpassed Kastrup’s this year. Photo: News Øresund – Johan Wessman.

Copenhagen Airport in Kastrup reported its eighteenth consecutive record month in September, but competition is getting tougher from Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport. According to a report by News Øresund, this year Arlanda has grown more rapidly than Kastrup, and passenger numbers in Skåne are on the decline.

September was the eighteenth record month in a row for Copenhagen’s airport, Kastrup. Passenger numbers increased 6.4% to 2.3 million, and transfer traffic went up 14.5%. The greatest increase has been in travel to Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Stockholm. If the tendency continues through autumn, 2014 will be a record year for the Danish airport. So far, almost 20 million passengers have flown through Kastrup.

“Copenhagen is still the place of departure for the majority of intercontinental traffic from our region, and the solid growth we see in transfer traffic strengthens our position as a hub. The 17% rise in the number of passengers on our long-distance routes is a reflection of this,” said Copenhagen Airport’s CEO Thomas Woldbye in a press release.

As an airport, Copenhagen’s strength is its function as an international hub. With 18.3 international passengers in the first nine months of 2014 it has surpassed Swedish Arlanda, where international passengers numbered 13.3 million in the same period.

Copenhagen Airport may be doing well, but Arlanda is growing faster. In September, the number of passengers passing through the Stockholm airport increased by seven per cent, and 17.1 million travelled through Arlanda during the first nine months of 2014 for a ten per cent increase compared to the same period in 2013.

International traffic through Arlanda has also increased at a faster rate than in Copenhagen this year; 11% compared to 7.4%.

“Developments at Arlanda are a good barometer for how the Stockholm region is doing. Effective communications are vital for businesses in the area and thus also the economic development in Sweden’s growth engine,” Kjell-Åke Westin, director of Stockholm Arlanda Airport said in a press release.

Denmark and Sweden’s major airports may be growing quickly, but this year has been tough for airports in Skåne. Malmö Airport lost three per cent of its passengers in the first nine months of the year, and Ängelholm Helsingborg Airport has lost two per cent.

Peter Weinhandl, director of Malmö Airport, is optimistic about the future, pointing among other things to two new international routes.

When asked to comment on the statistics he said, “New routes with Wizzair at the end of this year and the beginning of 2015 will bring the numbers back up.” (News Øresund)

Number of passengers
(Change compared to the same period in the previous year)

Copenhagen Airport Kastrup +7%
September, total: 2 339 515 (+6,4%)
January-September, total: 19 732 450 (+7,1%)
Of these, international passengers: 18 260 511 (+7,4%)

Stockholm Arlanda Airport +10%
September, total: 2 024 345 (+7%)
January-September, total: 17.077.071 (+10%)
Of these, international passengers: 13 312 275 (+11%)

Malmö Airport -3%
September, total: 209 867 (-1%)
January-September, total: 1.574.536 (-3%)
Of these, international passengers: 719.978 (-5%)

Ängelholm Helsingborg Airport -2%
September, total: 39 879 (-3%)
January-September, total: 301 278 (-2%)
Of these, international passengers: 18 246 (-6%)

Sources: Copenhagen Airport; Swedavia; Ängelholm Helsingborg Airport