While Swedavia had seen some rebound in passenger traffic early in the third quarter of 2020, the Swedish airport operator’s interim report for January-September shows an overall pattern of slow recovery. During the period, 8.7 million passengers flew to or from Swedavia’s airports, a decrease of 22 million passengers compared with the same period in 2019.
“Early in the third quarter, we saw some rebound in demand, but that unfortunately stalled an passenger numbers are still historically low,” said Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s President and CEO.
Net revenue for the company also decreased to SEK 2,040 M and operating profit was SEK-717 M. Excluding restructuring costs and capital gains, operating profit was SEK -1,09 M. “because of the unique situation we are in, Swedavia faces serious hardships as a company, since we are entirely reliant on revenue from airport operations. We implemented forceful measures early on to adapt to the new conditions. But when air travel basically comes to a standstill, we lose our revenue, which is reflected in the results for the period,” added Abrahamsson.
Swedavia carried out many of the redundancies announced in March during the third quarter as part of cost cutting measures. It is also adapting its organisational structure to ensure the company’s competitiveness in the future as well.
“National and international connectivity is absolutely crucial to successfully restarting societies and economies. Sweden is an export-dependent country, and good air links with the rest of the world are essential. So it is worrisome that the recover in air travel has now stalled, after a temporary upswing during the summer,” said Abrahamsson.
With the need to limit the spread of the virus the top priority across Swedavia’s airport portfolio, Abrahamsson noted that there is disparity in the infection control measures between countries and over time. “The need for coordination and not least an internationally harmonised approach to safe travel are thus vital to enable a restart of the world’s economies,” he concluded.
