Finnair traffic performance in June 2023: almost 1 million passengers (+10%)

In June, Finnair carried 997,200 passengers, which was 9.9% more than in June 2022 and 3.8% more than in May 2023. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there was one day less in June.

June 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 June 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 June by 15.1% year-on-year but decreased by 2.6% month-on-month. Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 16.4% year-on-year and by 6.2% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 0.9% points year-on-year and by 6.7% points month-on-month to 80.7%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 58.7% year-on-year explained e.g. by the reopening of Hong Kong route in July 2022, additional capacity to Japan and South Korea as well as the Mumbai route opened in August 2022. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 41.6% 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 4.1%. The Middle Eastern capacity surged by 1,809.9% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation commenced in November 2022 and low traffic during the 2022 summer season. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 9.7%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 63.3% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 38.5%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 5.9%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 1,666.0% and in domestic traffic by 1.8%.

In June, the PLF was 77.5 % in Asian traffic, 82.7% in North Atlantic traffic, 84.0% in European traffic, 74.2% in Middle Eastern traffic and 75.6% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 62.4% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 39.0%. In European traffic passenger numbers increased by 5.3%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 1,181.9% and in domestic traffic by 2.3%.

Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in June 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 scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 36.7% and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 24.0% year-on-year. The total cargo tonnes increased by 28.3% year-on-year and by 4.4% month-on-month.

In June, 82.0% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (72.8%).