On the back of a record-breaking year in 2016, Billund Airport rounded off the last 12 months with all-time highs in both passenger traffic and cargo. Welcoming 284,000 more passengers than in the previous year resulted in a total of 3.4 million passengers travelling through West Denmark’s busiest gateway in 2017. In addition to excellent passenger traffic results, cargo volume reached record levels at Billund with the airport handling 73,000 tonnes, a 9% year-on-year increase.
Delivering the best-ever results in the history of the airport, its eighth consecutive year of passenger traffic growth, produced a robust overall 9.2% increase. Billund’s international traffic rose by a noteworthy 13.8%: “Our international routes have created significant growth over the last few years, with 2017 being no exception,” explains Kjeld Zacho Jørgensen, CEO, Billund Airport. “Our core catchment embraces seven major West Danish cities and the overall progression in the economy in our area has been evident over the last 12 months. Our strong customer base is taking advantage of our expanding route network and cementing Billund’s position as West Denmark’s international airport,” adds Jørgensen.
Building blocks for the future
Billund has already lined up an additional five new routes and one new airline to maintain the airport’s progression in 2018. Kick-starting the summer season, Wizz Air commences the airport’s first direct connection to Iasi, the second-largest city in Romania, with a twice-weekly service from 30 April. The Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier will also mark the beginning of Billund’s winter season having announced this week the launch of a highly-desired link to Vienna – the last 10 years have seen a steady year-on-year increase of indirect traffic to the capital city, with 2017 recording an all-time high of 350,000 Danes visiting Austria.
Launching a three times weekly service to Bergen next summer, Billund will welcome the arrival of its latest new airline partner, Widerøe. Joining the airport’s existing links to Bergen and Oslo Gardermoen, the new flights will see Billund offer close to 40 flights to Norway each week in S18.
Later in S18, Billund will add two new connections to Athens as Ryanair commences a weekly service from 15 May, and Primera Air launches its 19th service from West Denmark with a weekly service to the Greek capital city from 23 May.
“We are looking forward to another year of developing our connectivity with the world,” states Jørgensen. “Over the next three years we will be investing in our infrastructure to support our strategy in providing a sustainable airport and, with thanks to our partners confirming new routes, as well as frequency increases on existing successful services, we can continue our journey and get great results together.”
