Copenhagen Airports enjoys impressive January traffic growth

A total of 1.9 million passengers passed through Copenhagen Airport in January 2025 – a healthy 14% rise on the same month a year ago.

The Danish gateway notes that the upturn shows that the appetite for travel is still strong, and a growing number of Danes are going on or contemplating taking city breaks.

“Generally, January and the rest of the winter months are a not as busy as the summer months at the airport. But the first month of the year was very busy, with a 14% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers,” enthused Copenhagen Airports A/S’s chief commercial officer, Peter Krogsgaard.

Despite the rising passenger numbers, 14% fewer passenger aircraft arrived at and departed from Copenhagen Airport in January compared with six years ago, when the number of passengers was the same as today.

The explanations, it says, are new, larger aircraft and a higher number of seats sold per flight.

London is the big favourite

Nearly one in ten passengers from Copenhagen travels to the UK, and London is by far the favourite UK destination, followed by Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol.

In January, 125,000 passengers travelled between Copenhagen and one of the three London airports, making London the single most popular destination overall, followed by Oslo, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Paris.

City breaks are trending

According to the airport, city breaks are gaining ground and have become one of the most popular holiday types, the Danish hub revealing that half of all Danes are considering a city break within the next year.

“A week or an extended weekend in one of Europe’s big cities is really trending,” adds Krogsgaard.

“Spring is around the corner with its many public holidays and other days off, which are ideal for a city break. This does not go unnoticed at Copenhagen Airport with our direct routes to many big cities throughout Europe. We are also seeing many foreign tourists travelling to Copenhagen, which is a very popular destination for a city break.”

SAS is opening new routes to Budapest, Bucharest, Lyon, Madrid and Seville, among other destinations, while Norwegian is adding cities such as Bratislava, Sarajevo and Newcastle to the route map from Copenhagen