Finnair traffic performance in February 2019: +4%

Capacity growth fastest in Europe – Cargo demand good

In February, Finnair carried 995,100 passengers, 4.0% more than in the corresponding period of 2018. The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased in February by 10.1%. Finnair’s traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased by 4.3%. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased year-on-year by 4.5% points to 79.7%.

Finnair’s long-haul capacity increased year-on-year with two new A350 aircraft that entered the service in December 2018 and in mid-February 2019. The ASK growth in Asian traffic was 7.8%, mainly due to the new route opening to Nanjing and extended frequencies to Osaka, Hong Kong, Phuket and Delhi. North American traffic decreased by 2.4%.

In European traffic, the ASK growth was 18.3%. The growth derived from one new narrow-body aircraft year-on-year, additional seating capacity in some of the existing narrow-body aircraft, on average longer routes and better aircraft utilization. The added capacity was directed to the longer southern European routes and to new route openings to Stuttgart, Lisbon, Lyon and Minsk after the comparison period. Capacity in domestic traffic increased by 2.8%. Harsh winter conditions affected especially domestic and European traffic and caused cancellations, which is visible in these traffic areas’ traffic data.

RPKs were flat in Asian traffic 0.0% and grew in European traffic by 14.0%, in North American traffic by 2.4% and decreased in domestic traffic by -3.5%. The PLF was 84.6% in Asian traffic, 75.6% in European traffic, 82.0% in North American traffic, and 62.1% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers in Asian traffic were flat 0.0%, in North American traffic passenger traffic increased by 4.0% and in European traffic by 8.8%, and decreased in domestic traffic by 3.2%

Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 16.2% year-on-year. Revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 26.2% mostly driven by the strong positive cargo market development in Japan and Western Europe.

February 74.4% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (72.3%).

Traffic statistics for March 2019 will be published on Friday, 5 April 2019.

* Operational calculatory capacity

** Including purchased traffic

–      Change %: Change compared to the figures of the respective periods in the previous year (p = points).

–      Available seat kilometres. ASK: Total number of seats available. multiplied by the number of kilometres flown.

–      Revenue passenger kilometres. RPK: Number of revenue passengers carried. multiplied by kilometres flown.

–      Passenger load factor: Share of revenue passenger kilometres of available seat kilometres.

–      Available tonne kilometres. ATK: Number of tonnes of capacity for carriage of passengers. cargo and mail. multiplied by kilometres flown.

–      Revenue tonne kilometres. RTK: Total revenue load consisting of passengers. cargo and mail. multiplied by kilometres flown.

–      Overall load factor: Share of revenue tonne kilometres of available tonne kilometres.