Finnair traffic performance in May 2023 shows continued strong growth

Continued strong growth in passenger traffic year-on-year, figures also improved month-on-month, especially in Europe and North Atlantic

In May, Finnair carried 960,400 passengers, which was 23.4% more than in May 2022 and 10.6% more than in April 2023. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there was one day less in April.

May 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 May 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 May by 20.4% year-on-year and by 8.0% month-on-month. Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 44.1% year-on-year and by 7.8% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 12.2% points year-on-year but decreased by 0.2% points month-on-month to 74.0%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 71.8% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 32.0% 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 3.2%. The Middle Eastern capacity surged by 2,446.9% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation commenced in November 2022 and low traffic during the 2022 summer season. The ASKs in domestic traffic decreased by 3.2%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 120.0% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 7.1%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 19.0%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 2,495.1% and in domestic traffic by 8.9%.

In May, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (70.5%) and North Atlantic traffic (70.0%) year-on-year. The PLF was 80.3% in European traffic, 61.3% in Middle Eastern traffic and 74.9% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 125.1% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 8.6%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 14.7%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 1,791.9% and in domestic traffic by 10.7%.

Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in May due to Qatar Airways cooperation and increased Asian capacity even though discontinued operations between Sweden and the US cut North Atlantic cargo capacity. Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 30.9% and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 6.9% year-on-year. The total cargo tonnes (including cargo-only operations) increased only by 13.1% year-on-year as the number of cargo-only flights was very limited in May 2023. Month-on-month increase of 8.7% was partly explained by the longer month.

In May, 86.5% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (86.2%).

Finnair Plc                Investor News              7 June 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EEST