Holiday Traffic Sets the Pace in the Biggest Month of the Year
September is usually the biggest travel month of the year at Aalborg Airport, when both business and holiday traffic is at its peak, and September 2022 was no exception – with 144,049 travelers to and from Aalborg Airport.
In addition to a continued large growth rate in domestic traffic for September 2022, the holiday routes Antalya, Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus and Naples in particular set the scene for the Danish wanderlust, with full flights throughout the month. All in all, the 144,049 travelers in September this year corresponded to 98.3 percent of September 2019, where there were 146,488 travelers.
– The traffic figures for September show the same great desire to travel, which we saw throughout the summer. We have another month with double-digit growth in domestic traffic compared to 2019, which testifies to great travel activity in the business community, but also a high level of leisure travelers who take a day, a weekend or a week’s holiday in Copenhagen, Aalborg or on Bornholm, says CEO Niels Hemmingsen and continues, we have also experienced a good activity on the international routes to Amsterdam, Malaga and Oslo, among others, but the travel capacity has not been able to quite match the demand, which can also be seen in the overall international figures. Now we will soon enter the winter season, where we expect a stable programme for foreign traffic, but with one extra weekly departure to Malaga.
Charter and package tours are favored by the Danish travelers
With far between the empty seats on September’s charter departures, it is clear that the traditional charter trip is very popular among Danish travelers. There is also an expectation that we will see a significantly greater demand for this safer way of traveling in the future.
– For many, the good travel experience is a result of leaving all practical responsibility to a travel agency. After a long period of instability in one way or another, we will probably see even more Danish travelers choosing a charter or package tour rather than making all the arrangements by themselves. To feel ‘safe’ is one thing, but at the same time we also see an increasing demand for the more active and unique travel experiences that can be enhanced by having a guide along on the journey. Our Naples route is a good example, where many of the travelers have booked their trip through a travel agency that organizes experiences throughout the Campania region. In addition, people are increasingly looking for more exotic experiences, which is why it is absolutely fantastic that in the winter of 2023 we can send guests directly to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, concludes Niels Hemmingsen.