Cargo traffic achieved an all-time high monthly volume
In October, Finnair carried 1,141,700 passengers, 8.2% more than in the corresponding period of 2017. The number of passengers continued to grow in European and domestic traffic, which grew by 11.0% and 8.3%. Long-haul growth was roughly in line with the corresponding period.
Finnair’s overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased in October by 8.7% year-on-year. Finnair’s traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) grew by 5.3%. The higher ASK growth rate was reflected in the Passenger Load Factor (PLF), which decreased year-on-year by -2.6% points to 79.5%.
Long-haul capacity grew moderately in October since no new A350 aircraft have been introduced after the reference period. The ASK growth in Asian traffic was 2.2%. The growth was mainly directed at frequency additions to Tokyo and to the new route opening, Nanjing. In North American traffic ASKs increased by 5.4%.
In European traffic, the ASK growth was 18.2%, 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 Northern and Central Europe and new route openings to Stuttgart, Lisbon and Minsk after the comparison period. ASK growth in domestic traffic was 8.7%.
In October, RPKs grew slower than ASKs which was reflected in the passenger load factors. RPKs decreased by -0.5% in Asian traffic and grew in European traffic 13.7%, in domestic traffic 8.8% and in North American traffic 2.5%. The PLF was 81.2% in Asian traffic, 78.5% in European traffic, 80.2% in North American traffic, and 66.6% in domestic traffic.
Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 6.8% year-on-year. Revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 12.6% mostly driven by the strong positive cargo market development in Japan. The positive development was also seen in Finland and routes to the USA. Finnair’s total cargo capacity included also three weekly freighter flights between Helsinki and Brussels, operated by DHL. Total cargo traffic volume achieved an all-time high monthly volume measured in tonnes by increasing 4.3% from the comparison period when Finnair rented cargo space from Japan Airlines.
In October 86.8% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (82.9%).
Traffic statistics for November 2018 will be published on Friday, 7 December 2018.
Finnair Traffic Performance October 2018
| October | % Change | YTD | % Change | |
| Total traffic | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 1 141.7 | 8.2 | 11 268.0 | 12.6 |
| Available seat kilometres mill (ASK) | 3 680.7 | 8.7 | 35 593.1 | 15.9 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill (RPK) | 2 925.4 | 5.3 | 29 530.4 | 14.4 |
| Passenger load factor % | 79.5 | -2.6p | 83.0 | -1.1p |
| Cargo tonnes total | 16 037.0 | 4.3 | 129 711.3 | -1.4 |
| Available tonne kilometres mill | 541.0 | 6.1 | 5 233.3 | 14.0 |
| Revenue tonne-kilometres mill | 357.3 | 4.1 | 3 100.6 | 11.8 |
Asia | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 189.4 | -0.5 | 2 036.0 | 16.5 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 1 762.0 | 2.2 | 17 657.7 | 17.4 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 1 430.5 | -0.5 | 15 363.0 | 16.4 |
| Passenger load factor % | 81.2 | -2.2p | 87.0 | -0.7p |
| Europe | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 737.7 | 11.0 | 7 035.3 | 12.1 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 1 516.0 | 18.2 | 13 777.4 | 14.3 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 1 189.9 | 13.7 | 10 937.3 | 11.8 |
| Passenger load factor % | 78.5 | -3.1p | 79.4 | -1.8p |
| North Atlantic | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 30.1 | 0.8 | 307.7 | 13.6 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 270.5 | 5.4 | 2 644.1 | 14.4 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 217.0 | 2.5 | 2 244.1 | 14.9 |
| Passenger load factor % | 80.2 | -2.3p | 84.9 | 0.4p |
| Domestic | ||||
| Passengers 1000 | 184.6 | 8.3 | 1 889.0 | 10.6 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 132.1 | 8.7 | 1 513.9 | 16.5 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 88.0 | 8.8 | 986.1 | 12.4 |
| Passenger load factor % | 66.6 | 0.0p | 65.1 | -2.4p |
| Cargo Traffic | ||||
| Europe tonnes | 2 497.0 | 0.8 | 17 519.3 | -19.5 |
| North Atlantic tonnes | 1 000.4 | 13.5 | 8 698.7 | 10.1 |
| Asia tonnes | 11 582.5 | 12.4 | 95 156.7 | 12.0 |
| Domestic tonnes | 56.9 | -8.4 | 464.9 | -43.5 |
| Cargo scheduled traffic total tonnes | 15 136.8 | 10.3 | 121 839.6 | 5.5 |
| Cargo flights. tonnes** | 900.2 | -45.5 | 7 871.7 | -51.0 |
| Cargo Traffic tonnes total | 16 037.0 | 4.3 | 129 711.3 | -1.4 |
| Available tonne kilometres* mill | 145.5 | 2.1 | 1 364.3 | 10.4 |
| Revenue tonne kilometres mill | 100.3 | 4.6 | 819.7 | 1.3 |
| Available sched.cargo tonne kms*. mill. | 143.9 | 6.8 | 1 348.2 | 16.9 |
| Revenue sched.cargo tonne kms. mill. | 98.8 | 12.6 | 806.7 | 10.8 |
| Cargo load factor* % | 68.9 | 1.7p | 60.1 | -5.5p |
| – North-Atlantic cargo load factor* % | 62.9 | 13.6p | 51.5 | 1.7p |
| – Asia cargo load factor* % | 76.8 | 4.0p | 67.3 | -3.4p |
| Scheduled traffic Cargo load factor*. % | 68.7 | 3.5p | 59.8 | -3.3p |
* 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.