A summer of records at Copenhagen Airport
24-Oct-2011 Although Copenhagen Airport had its busiest summer ever in 2011, reaching a record of 6.5 million passengers, almost nine out of ten aircraft departed on time. The number of cruise passengers also hit a record number at half a million. Most scheduled flights carrying holiday makers flew to destinations such as London and Paris, while charter flights mainly flew to Turkey and Greece.
The summer of 2011 was a summer of records at Copenhagen Airport with 6,552,097 passengers and 66,009 takeoffs and landings.
However, the record summer did not entail congestion or major delays on the runways. More than 85% of all departures were on time, and that places Copenhagen Airport among the best performing airports in Europe, said Director of Traffic and Airside Operations Dan Meincke.
"Getting almost nine out of ten flights out on time is hard to beat in a high season period when the entire European airspace is full and all aircraft are in the air. Behind the good results is yet another success story - a turnaround in the true sense of the word.
Although two out of ten arriving flights were late in, Copenhagen Airport staff managed to shorten the turnaround times of the flights so that half the late arriving flights departed on time. That's absolutely excellent," said Dan Meincke.
Well-prepared passengers
There were 141,000 more passengers in 2011 than in 2010. This meant that the airport had several days of more than 85,000 passengers. The effect was especially pronounced during the mornings when the check-in queues caused an extra workload.
"All passengers got off on holiday. We had extra staff on duty, and passengers showed understanding of the busy periods. Everybody knows that things are always more busy during the absolute peak season.
Most passengers had therefore prepared well for their journey from home, they had printed out their boarding cards and they arrived at the airport well before departure time," said Passenger Manager Marie-Louise Lotz.
Security was also well prepared. They had extra staff on duty and offered a special service for the many families travelling with children. That clearly produced good results.
Nine out of ten travellers got through security screening in less than five minutes. And passengers showed their appreciation of this.
In the airport's comprehensive passenger-satisfaction surveys, more than eight out of ten passengers responded that they were either satisfied or very satisfied. This applies not only to security, but also to check-in, the shopping centre and cleaning.
Turkey most popular charter destination
Turkey was the most popular destination among passengers travelling on charter flights. As many as 89,000 passengers travelled on package tours to the Turkish beach town of Antalya.
Number two was Palma de Mallorca with more than 58,000 charter passengers. Next on the list were Chania on the island of Crete and Paradisi on the island of Rhodes with 46,500 and 39,000 passengers respectively.
However, charter passengers only made up a small part of this summer's passengers. For scheduled flights, London continued to be the absolute top destination.
As many as 445,000 passengers either flew to or via the British capital in June, July and August. Paris performed well at 235,000 passengers, and 142,000 passengers travelled to Barcelona on scheduled flights.
Half a million cruise passengers
Copenhagen Airport also felt the effects of Copenhagen's great success in attracting cruises. The number of cruise passengers arriving or returning from Copenhagen by air rounded half a million - an increase of almost 20% year on year.
At a recent cruise fair in Hamburg, Germany, Copenhagen was rated the world's best cruise destination, a success that obliges, said Passenger Manager Marie-Louise Lotz.
"It must be a good experience for passengers to end their cruise in Copenhagen. We have therefore fitted up the beautiful old hangar 145 as a special check-in facility for cruise passengers, and that has been very successful," said Marie-Louise Lotz.
One bad sunday
However, for Copenhagen Airport and several thousand passengers, a single Sunday during the summer was something they could have done without.
On 10 July, the baggage system broke down for a couple of hours due to a very unusual defect. "It was a black Sunday, and we have learnt from it," said Marie-Louise Lotz.
"Breakdowns can happen no matter how well you prepare. The secret is to learn from the problem, and we certainly have. On the one hand, we have ensured that similar malfunctions will not occur again; on the other hand we have prepared new procedures ensuring that arriving passengers get better and faster information if baggage problems arise, said Marie-Louise Lotz.