Finnair carries 880,500 passengers in August

In August, Finnair carried 880,500 passengers, which was 230.4% more than in August 2021. The number of passengers in August 2022 was 11.9% less than in July 2022.

The COVID-19 impact, including the strict travel restrictions imposed by many countries, still affected passenger traffic figures, and it was particularly visible in the Asian figures. The Russian airspace closed at the end of February due to the counter sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. Thanks to robust demand for cargo, Finnair, however, continued operating to most of its Asian destinations despite the longer routings. Thus, the negative impact of the airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures, which were already affected by the pandemic, remained moderate in August. The distance-based reported traffic figures do not take into account longer routings caused by the airspace closure as they are based on Great-Circle distance.

The overall capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased in August by 151.3% year-on-year but decreased by 3.4% month-on-month. Finnair operated, on average, 253 daily flights (cargo-only included), which was 99.2% more than in August 2021 but 1.6% less than in July 2022. The differences between capacity figures compared to August 2021 are explained by the longer average stage length of flights operated and by the larger gauge of aircraft operated. Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 365.0% year-on-year but decreased by 13.2% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 35.7% points year-on-year but decreased by 8.8% points month-on-month to 77.8%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 142.8% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity increased by 119.2%. In European traffic, the ASKs were up by 187.3%. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 53.8%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 853.8%, in North Atlantic traffic by 486.1%, in European traffic by 260.4% and in domestic traffic by 62.9% year-on-year.

In August, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (77.6%) and North Atlantic traffic (75.7%) year-on-year. The PLF was 79.0% in European traffic and 75.8% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 863.7% year-on-year. In North Atlantic traffic, the number of passengers increased by 475.0%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 226.7% and in domestic traffic by 85.4%.

Despite the Russian airspace closure, most cargo figures improved year-on-year and remained close to July 2022 figures in August. Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 94.1% year-on-year (increased by 6.0% month-on-month) and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 57.6% (increased by 0.8% month-on-month), both due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scheduled flights in August 2021. Cargo-related available tonne kilometres increased by 50.4% year-on-year (increased by 5.7% month-on-month) and revenue tonne kilometres increased by 17.3% (increased by 0.3% month-on-month). These figures also include the cargo-only flights which were, however, almost entirely replaced by scheduled passenger flights carrying cargo in August. Strong demand for cargo capacity continued in August as the total cargo tonnes increased by 40.4% year-on-year (decreased by 0.4% month-on-month).

In August, 80.8% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (90.7%). On-time performance decreased year-on-year and was impacted by various capacity challenges in the European aviation system. Finnair’s Helsinki hub is functioning well, however, and Finnair’s relative on-time performance was good.