Strong growth in cargo supply and demand
In November, Finnair carried 980,100 passengers, 3.2% more than in the corresponding period of 2017. The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased in November by 7.2%. Finnair’s traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) grew by 2.1%. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased year-on-year by -3.8% points to 74.6%.
Long-haul capacity remained at the reference period’s level as there were no changes in Finnair’s wide-body fleet year-on-year. The ASK growth in Asian traffic was down by -1.5% as some capacity was transferred from Asian routes to North American routes. The North American traffic was up by 19.4% when flights to Chicago and San Francisco were extended to November.
In European traffic, the ASK growth was 19.1%, which derived from the increase in the narrow-body fleet size year-on-year and the additional seating capacity added to some of the existing narrow-body aircraft. The added capacity was directed at frequency additions to several destinations in Europe but focused more into the longer southern Europe routes and to new route openings to Stuttgart, Lisbon and Minsk after the comparison period. ASK growth in domestic traffic was 5.3%.
In November, RPKs grew slower than ASKs which was reflected in the passenger load factors. RPKs decreased by -5.3% in Asian traffic and grew in European traffic 11.4%, in North American traffic 18.9% and in domestic traffic 0.1%. The PLF was 77.5% in Asian traffic, 72.5% in European traffic, 75.2% in North American traffic, and 61.1% in domestic traffic.
Passenger numbers declined in Asian traffic by -4.6% and in domestic traffic by -0.5% and increased in European traffic by 6.6% and in North American traffic by 19.1%
Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 19.7% year-on-year. Revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 16.4% mostly driven by the strong positive cargo market development in Japan and Sweden. Additionally, favourable development was also visible in our Chinese routes. The total cargo traffic volume measured in tonnes increased by 11.2% from the comparison period.
In November 85.6% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (81.6%).
Traffic statistics for December 2018 will be published on Wednesday, 9 January 2019.
Finnair Traffic Performance November 2018
| November | % Change | YTD | % Change | |
| Total traffic | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 980.1 | 3.2 | 12 248.2 | 11.8 |
| Available seat kilometres mill (ASK) | 3 306.4 | 7.2 | 38 899.6 | 15.1 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill (RPK) | 2 466.2 | 2.1 | 31 996.6 | 13.4 |
| Passenger load factor % | 74.6 | -3.8p | 82.3 | -1.3p |
| Cargo tonnes total | 15 010.0 | 11.2 | 144 721.4 | -0.2 |
| Available tonne kilometres mill | 488.0 | 5.5 | 5 721.3 | 13.3 |
| Revenue tonne-kilometres mill | 316.8 | 5.6 | 3 779.4 | 10.5 |
Asia | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 169.3 | -4.6 | 2 205.2 | 14.5 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 1 644.9 | -1.5 | 19 302.6 | 15.5 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 1 275.0 | -5.3 | 16 638.0 | 14.4 |
| Passenger load factor % | 77.5 | -3.1p | 86.2 | -0.8p |
| Europe | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 581.0 | 6.6 | 7 616.3 | 11.7 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 1 255.8 | 19.1 | 15 033.2 | 14.7 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 910.3 | 11.4 | 11 847.6 | 11.8 |
| Passenger load factor % | 72.5 | -5.0p | 78.8 | -2.1p |
| North Atlantic | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 23.7 | 19.1 | 331.4 | 14.0 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 234.0 | 19.4 | 2 878.0 | 14.8 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 175.9 | 18.9 | 2 420.1 | 15.2 |
| Passenger load factor % | 75.2 | -0.3p | 84.1 | 0.3p |
| Domestic | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 206.2 | -0.5 | 2 095.2 | 9.4 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 171.7 | 5.3 | 1 685.7 | 15.2 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 105.0 | 0.1 | 1 091.0 | 11.1 |
| Passenger load factor % | 61.1 | -3.2p | 64.7 | -2.4p |
| Cargo Traffic | ||||
| Europe tonnes | 2 761.8 | 27.1 | 20 281.2 | -15.2 |
| North Atlantic tonnes | 961.1 | 41.5 | 9 659.7 | 12.6 |
| Asia tonnes | 11 232.5 | 13.6 | 106 389.2 | 12.1 |
| Domestic tonnes | 54.6 | 13.2 | 519.6 | -40.3 |
| Cargo scheduled traffic total tonnes | 15 010.0 | 17.4 | 136 849.7 | 6.7 |
| Cargo flights. tonnes** | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7 871.7 | -53.0 |
| Cargo Traffic tonnes total | 15 010.0 | 11.2 | 144 721.4 | -0.2 |
| Available tonne kilometres* mill | 142.1 | 17.8 | 1 506.4 | 11.1 |
| Revenue tonne kilometres mill | 96.2 | 14.7 | 915.9 | 2.5 |
| Available sched.cargo tonne kms*. mill. | 142.1 | 19.7 | 1 490.3 | 17.1 |
| Revenue sched.cargo tonne kms. mill. | 96.2 | 16.4 | 902.9 | 11.3 |
| Cargo load factor* % | 67.7 | -1.8p | 60.8 | -5.1p |
| – North-Atlantic cargo load factor* % | 53.5 | -6.9p | 51.7 | 1.2p |
| – Asia cargo load factor* % | 77.7 | 0.3p | 68.3 | -3.1p |
| Scheduled traffic Cargo load factor*. % | 67.7 | -1.9p | 60.6 | -3.1p |
* 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 7 December 2018 at 9:00 am