COPY LINK

BUSINESS

Copenhagen Airport returns good result but sees dark clouds ahead

Increasing travel activity gave Copenhagen Airport a pre-tax profit of 234 million kroner in the third quarter of 2022.11.08

Published: 8 November 2022 15:19 CET

Copenhagen Airport returns good result but sees dark clouds ahead

An aircraft landing at Copenhagen Airport in 2019. Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

The Q3 profit represents the first time since 2019 that the airport has made a profit in the third quarter and shows that the company is emerging from a major crisis first brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, CEO Thomas Woldbye said in a statement.

“Even though energy crisis, war, inflation and the risk of Covid-19 variants is still creating uncertainty, our expectation is that the annual results will be a plus of around 125-225 million kroner,” Woldbye said in the statement.

The airport made a profit of 221 million kroner in the first nine months of this year before tax, lower than the result for Q3 alone.

“So it seems to be looking bright for air travel despite many dark clouds on the horizon. It’s going better but we are certainly not where we want to be yet,” Woldbye said.

Recent years have seen the Covid-19 pandemic in particular cause setbacks for the airport holding company.

The company – Københavns Lufthavne – made a loss of 1.5 billion kroner through 2020 and 2021 and borrowed 2.2 billion kroner to continue operations and make necessary investments, it said.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Everything you need to know about travel to, from and around Denmark this Easter

Track work between Copenhagen and Odense

From 11pm on Maundy Thursday (April 6th) till midnight on Easter Sunday (April 9th) there are replacement buses on the line between Copenhagen and Odense, as Denmark’s track operator Banedanmark carries out renovation work on the tracks.

Express InterCity trains between Copenhagen and Aalborg and Esbjerg will also no longer stop in Valby, Ny Ellebjerg or Køge Nord from March 31st until April 10th.

From Easter Monday until April 29th, the InterCity InterCityLyn+ to Aarhus is suspended, with travellers instead advised to take the PendlerLyn during rush hour.

You can find the details of the disruptions between Copenhagen and Slagelse here, and between Slagelse and Odense here.

Check your journey on DSB’s Rejseplaner web app for the latest information.

Roads

The Danish Road Directorate warned in its Easter traffic forecast of heavy traffic on Friday March 31st, particularly during the evening rush hour, when normal commuting traffic in and out of Copenhagen will be made even worse by people travelling to visit relatives over Easter.

Traffic is also expected to be heavier than usual on Saturday April 1st, Wednesday April 5th, and Thursday, April 6th.

The directorate expects return trips to Copenhagen after Easter Sunday on April 10th to be spread over several days, reducing the risk of traffic problems.

It expects particularly heavy traffic on the E20 between Copenhagen, Odense and Esbjerg on the Jutland coast, and also on the E45 between Kolding and the German border at Padborg.

The coastal roads where many Danes have summer houses are also likely to be affected, with the directorate warning of traffic on national road 11 on the west coast of Jutland between Ribe and Ringkøbing, national road 16 between Hillerød on the outskirts of Copenhagen and northern Zealand, and national road 21 between Copenhagen and the Sjællands Odde peninsular in northwest Zealand.

Here are the roads where heavy traffic is expected.

Source: Danish Roads Directorate

Air

While there are no strikes planned at Danish airports or among staff at the airlines servicing them, anyone flying to Spain, Germany, Italy, or the UK’s Heathrow airport should check to make sure that their flight is not going to be disrupted.

Between now and April 13th, ground services and cargo handling unions in Spain working for Swissport are mounting 24-hour walkouts every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

This will impact most Spanish airports, including Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Reus, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Málaga, Almería, Salamanca, Valladolid, Burgos, Logroño, Zaragoza, Huesca, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife Sur airports. It is not yet clear which flights will be affected.

The German transport unions Ver.di and EVG mounted a 24-hour mega strike on March 27th and have threatened further strikes around Easter if they do not get a better pay offer from transport operators.

Those flying to Italy should keep in mind that air traffic controllers working for the company Enav are planning to strike from 1pm to 5pm on April 2nd.

READ ALSO: Calendar of the transport strikes expected in Italy this spring

Finally, 1,400 security guards at Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport plan to hold rolling strikes for 10 days from March 31st until April 9th, threatening “huge disruption and delays… throughout Easter.”

Heathrow’s management have said that they aim to keep the airport “open and operational despite unnecessary threats of strike action by Unite”.

Url copied to clipboard!