More than one million passengers for the first time since February 2020, strong passenger load factor
In July, Finnair carried 1,062,500 passengers, which was 6.3% more than in July 2022 and 6.5% more than in June 2023. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there was one day less in June.
July passenger traffic figures improved year-on-year as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts have mostly faded and as the Russian airspace was closed already during the comparison period. The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure especially on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, still visible in July 2023 compared to the pre-pandemic figures. 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 July by 12.0% year-on-year and by 3.9% month-on-month. Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 9.8% year-on-year and by 9.2% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased by 1.8% points year-on-year but increased by 4.1% points month-on-month to 84.8%.
The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 54.5% year-on-year explained e.g. by the additional capacity to Japan and South Korea and the Mumbai route opened in August 2022. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 42.9% as the operations between Stockholm and the North American destinations were discontinued at the end of October 2022. In European traffic, the ASKs were up by 1.8%. The Middle Eastern capacity surged by 1,520.1% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation that commenced in November 2022 and low traffic during the 2022 summer season. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 10.6%.
RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 65.9% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 45.0%. In European traffic, RPKs decreased by 1.2%. In Middle Eastern traffic, RPKs increased by 1,299.3% but decreased in domestic traffic by 0.4%.
In July, the PLF was 85.0 % in Asian traffic, 87.0% in North Atlantic traffic, 86.0% in European traffic, 77.6% in Middle Eastern traffic and 69.6% in domestic traffic.
Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 64.2% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 45.3%. In European traffic passenger numbers increased by 2.0% and in Middle Eastern traffic by 912.6%. In domestic traffic, the number of passengers decreased by 0.1%.
Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in July due to Qatar Airways cooperation and increased Asian capacity even though discontinued operations between Sweden and the US cut North Atlantic cargo capacity. Cargo carried on flights as a part of the cooperation with Qatar Airways, where cargo capacity is fully allocated to and sold by Qatar Airways, is reported by Finnair under Middle East cargo figures. Available cargo tonne-kilometres increased by 23.9% and revenue cargo tonne-kilometres increased by 12.8% year-on-year. The total cargo tonnes increased by 18.0% year-on-year but decreased by 9.5% month-on-month.
In July, 81.3% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (75.2%).
