New long-haul routes helped propel Copenhagen Airport to a new half-yearly passenger traffic record this year.
The Danish airport welcomed 14.4 million passengers in the six months, 3.1 per cent more than in the same period in 2017.
The long-haul, intercontinental routes were the main factor in the increase, with passenger numbers up 9.2 per cent primarily due to new routes.
The number of local departing passengers was up 3.8 per cent, while transfer and transit passengers were down 0.4 per cent.
In the first few months of the year, Cathay Pacific opened a direct route to Hong Kong, Air China to Beijing, and both Norwegian and Royal Jordanian started flying to the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Copenhagen Airport chief executive officer, Thomas Woldbye said: “Our strategy of expanding the number of long-haul routes is bearing fruit.”
“There was also capacity expansion on a number of routes, with more already announced in the winter programme. We now have more than 40 direct routes to destinations outside Europe, helping to secure the strong growth in the important area of intercontinental traffic and a core part of our strategy,” added Woldbye.
The airport is undergoing an expansion programme to improve facilities for passengers and in 2017 invested approximately DKK 1.5 billion ($230 million) in expansions and improvements, but this year investments are expected to increase to DKK 1.8-2.1 billion.
