Sweden’s air traffic nearing pre-pandemic levels

Travel to and from Sweden’s airports increased in June by 11% for international flights, which is about 82% of pre-pandemic levels, while domestic travel increased by 10% over the same period, according to Swedavia chief Jonas Abrahamsson- news that won’t tally well with the country’s Green Deal ambitions

“We are now in the middle of the travel-intensive summer season, and the high demand for air travel continues. The trend is still driven by increased travel to destinations in Europe related to holidays and visits to family and friends, but domestic travel also developed slightly more positively overall in June,” said Swedavia President and CEO Jonas Abrahamsson in a press release on Wednesday.

Luleå Airport in Northern Sweden is the airport that is closest to travel levels recorded in June 2019. In June 2023, 97,000 travellers went to and from the airport, a mere 4% decrease compared to the same period in 2019.

However, these figures do not necessarily bode well with EU climate ambitions.

To achieve climate neutrality, the European Green Deal sets out the need to reduce emissions from the transport sector – including aviation – by 90% by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels).

In 2017, direct emissions from aviation accounted for 3.8% of total CO2 emissions in the EU.

The aviation sector creates 13.9% of the emissions from transport, making it the second biggest source of transport GHG emissions after road transport.

(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)