LFV Annual Report 2019 1
L F V 2019 DIRE C T OR S ’ REPOR T AIR TRAFFIC HA
S DECREASED DISTRIBUTION OF MODES OF TRANSPORTATION (%) 16 48 36 Domestic International Transit After several years of increased air traffic, the number of aircraft movements in Swedish airspace decreased by 1.4 per cent in 2019 for a total of about 774,000. Transiting traffic has continued to increase, whereas both foreign and domestic air traffic decreased. FLIGHT MOVEMENTS (thousand) 800 762 600 785 774 Foreign traffic decreased by 3.8 per cent and domestic traffic decreased by 9.0 per cent in 2019. The greatest decreases took place during the period of October to December when airlines transitioned to their new winter programmes for 2019/2020 The traffic volume was also affected somewhat by an SAS strike in late April/ early May. The period of May – October was the most heavily trafficked with approximately 70,000 movements per month. Transiting traffic without take-off and landing in 400 200 0 2017 2018 2019 Sweden, increased by 3.4 per cent. Transiting traffic constitutes 48 per cent of the total traffic volume. Airlines plan for the shortest route and the lowest fuel consumption. LFV offers airlines straight and efficient flight paths over Sweden. That, combined with the crowding in the European airspace and a general increase of air traffic globally, explains why transiting traffic has continued to increase. Although air traffic decreased, longer distances have been flown and with heavier aircraft, which explains why the number of service units has decreased. The number of service units is a combination of the number of flights, the aircraft's weight and the flights distance, and increased somewhat, by 0.1 per cent. Service units are documentation for route charges, the fee that LFV charges airlines that traffic the airspace. Other air traffic service providers, public authorities and Swedish airports are financed by route charges. Sweden also finances local air traffic services with route charges to a greater extent than other countries. On 1 January 2019, Sweden reduced the route charge by 4.7 per cent. The charge will be reduced an additional 4.6 per cent for 2020. Sweden's charge is below the European average, somewhat higher than Finland, and lower than Norway and Denmark. The high air traffic volume places demands on LFV, which has the task of providing flight safety and working to achieve sustainable flight traffic with a reduced environmental impact. LFV achieves this primarily by working with straight flight routes and the shortest possible arrival and departure paths to and from the airports. 14 AIR TRAFFIC'S DEVELOPMENT In the long-term forecast that was published in 2018 by the airline organisation IATA (International Air Transport Association), the annual number of passengers in the world is expected to double by the year 2037, from 4.1 to 8.2 billion. The forecast is based on the assumption of an annual increase of 3.5 per cent. The countries in southeast Asia are expected to account for the greatest increase with more than half of all new passengers. In China alone, the number of passengers is expected to increase from 600 million to 1.6 billion. For Europe, the forecast is an annual passenger increase by 2 per cent, which would mean an increase from 1.3 to 1.9 billion passengers by 2037. The trend right now in Europe is that the traffic of short flight routes within Europe is decreasing in step with the expansion of high-speed trains. At the same time, the growth in Asia is positively influencing the development of the number of transits in eastern Europe. There is also a replacement of aircraft fleets in many airlines. SAS, for example, is replacing many smaller planes, type 737 with fewer, larger and more fuelefficient planes, type A320. This gives the same passenger capacity with fewer planes, which, in turn, can entail more passengers flying but fewer departures. A small increase in the number of flights in Swedish airspace is expected in the long term. The development in Asia, with transits to Europe, will also account for the greatest share in this area as well.