Flights to Austria from the UK for the start of the ski season in December are exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 8%, new data shows.
The number of scheduled services is also up 18% on December last year via the gateways of Innsbruck and Salzburg.
Overall scheduled departures for the month from the UK are projected by aviation analytics firm Cirium to hit 96% of December 2019 levels, as the industry continues to see strong winter demand.
Scheduled flights from UK airports are also up 16% compared to December 2022, with more than 75,000 planned departures during the month.
Meanwhile, winter sports operator Ski Solutions has reported a 10% year-on-year rise in revenue from ski trips booked to depart in December despite economic headwinds.
Austria has been one of the largest markets for ski season growth, with bookings with the company up 48% year-on-year and 43% above pre-Covid numbers.
Demand for skiing in Italy has continued to grow, with bookings and flight levels from the UK edging towards pre-pandemic records.
The number of scheduled flights from the UK to Italy is up 9% year-on-year, with Ski Solutions seeing bookings jump by 20% over last December.
Norway has emerged as one of the industry’s up-and-coming skiing destinations, with a surge in bookings for Ski Solutions this December versus 2019.
Ski Solutions’ top ten destinations this season consist of St. Anton, Val d’Isère, Les Arcs, Obergurgl and Cervinia.
Long-haul ski trips are also recovering as travel restrictions remain a thing of the past. Cirium data shows that scheduled flights from the UK to Canada are up 6% year-on-year to hit 99% of pre-pandemic levels.
This is supported by data from Ski Solutions, which reveals that ski bookings to the country have risen 38% this December compared to 2022 and are up 132% on pre-pandemic.
Ski Solutions managing director Ian McIlrath said: “It’s very reassuring to see the increase in demand since pre-pandemic levels to our core countries of destination and even more pleasing to see that Ski Solutions is outperforming the market.
“While France remains one of our key destinations, our strategy of offering up new resort experiences to our clients is proving successful.
“As a big advocate of the Austrian ski experience, it’s great to see demand growing so strongly to these resorts.
“Norway has been a destination that our business has focussed on over the last couple of years. It offers up a compelling snow-sure and longer season opportunity, which is starting to be recognised by many of our clients.
“We remain very positive about the outlook for the 2023/24 ski season.”