Number of passengers of SAS Scandinavian Airlines 2009-2022

Scandinavian Airlines’ passenger numbers dropped by nearly three quarters between 2019 and 2021 to around 7.4 million passengers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of passengers on Scandinavian Airlines flights began rising again in the financial year 2022, totaling 17.9 million scheduled passengers that year.

Flight shame or business as usual?

Scandinavia is home to the ‘flygskam’ or flight shame movement that encourages people to avoid flying for environmental reasons. These environmental considerations are having an impact on corporate travel, with many companies’ travel policies now encouraging avoiding travel or using low-carbon alternatives. According to their annual report, Scandinavian Airlines expect short-haul business travel by air to remain at 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels. However, constrained corporate travel budgets and the normalization of online meetings during the pandemic also have a role to play in this development.

A recovery driven by the leisure sector

In the leisure sector, environmental concerns appear to have made less of an impact. Airlines have reported a stronger recovery post-pandemic in this sector and expect passenger numbers to continue rising in the coming years. Overall revenue in the Nordics countries’ aviation sector is projected to increase by 36 percent between 2022 and 2023 and then continue growing at a slower but steady pace.