Finnair traffic performance in March 2019: Number of passengers carried continued to grow (+4.6%)

In March, Finnair carried 1,144,900 passengers, 4.6% more than in the corresponding period of 2018. The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased in March by 11.0%. Finnair’s traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased by 2.8%. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased year-on-year by 6.2% points to 78.3%. This is partly influenced by the timing of the Easter holiday, which is in April this year, whereas last year it was partly in March.

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 8.8%, mainly due to the new route opening to Nanjing and extended frequencies to Osaka and Hong Kong. The North American capacity decreased by 0.9%.

In European traffic, the ASK growth was 17.9%. 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 and Lyon after the comparison period. Capacity in domestic traffic increased by 4.2%.

RPKs declined in Asian traffic by 2.2% and in North American traffic by 7,1%, whereas RPKs in European traffic grew by 13.4% and in domestic traffic by 1.3%. The PLF was 79.7% in Asian traffic, 78.3% in European traffic, 80.2% in North American traffic, and 65.3% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers declined in Asian traffic by 2.6% and in North American traffic by 6.8%, whereas in European traffic passenger numbers grew by 9.1%, and in domestic traffic by 1.0%

Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 18.4% year-on-year. Revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 19.6% mostly driven by the strong positive cargo market development in Japan and the Nordic countries.

In March 78.6 % % of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (78.2%).

Traffic statistics for April 2019 will be published on Wednesday, 8 May 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.

Finnair Plc                 Investor News        5 April 2019 at 9:00 am