Almost 50 million passengers

"The growth in traffic illustrates how important aviation is to Norway. The figures tell a tale of economic development, an internationally oriented business sector, population growth and the effect of competition on ticket prices. For Avinor the challenge is to meet the capacity requirements in the years ahead. The ongoing construction of new terminals at Oslo and Bergen airports are the most important short-term measures," says CEO of Avinor, Dag Falk-Petersen.

However, he emphasizes that there will be investments in capacity and new infrastructure all over the country going forward.

"We look forward to developing aviation in Norway and performing our social mission in the years ahead," Falk-Petersen says.



In total, traffic to and from Avinor's airports increased by 4.3 per cent compared to 2012. International traffic increased by 9.2 per cent, while domestic traffic increased by 1.3 per cent.

Oslo Airport saw traffic growth of 4 per cent and handled almost 23 million passengers. Bergen Airport saw traffic growth of 6.9 per cent and exceeded 6 million passengers for the first time. Stavanger Airport had traffic growth of 5,8 per cent, while Trondheim Airport was at 3,6 per cent.

A number of other airports also experienced strong traffic growth - among them were Ålesund and Harstad/Narvik. The growth in passenger figures is largely due to new international routes.

"Harstad/Narvik airport Evenes increased international traffic by 29 per cent, and in Ålesund there was a massive leap in international traffic of 67.4 per cent in 2013. In Ålesund new routes were established to Amsterdam and Gdansk, as well as new charters to Tenerife. This demonstrates that new services also create new traffic," says Avinor's division director Margrethe Snekkerbakken.

The number of aircraft movements increased by 1.8% compared to 2012.