Finnair traffic performance in October 2017; RPK increased by a fifth and 13% more passengers

In October, Finnair’s overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres increased by 16.8 per cent year?on?year, and traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres grew by 19.9 per cent. The number of passengers carried in October was 1.06 million, corresponding to an increase of 13.2 per cent year-on-year. The passenger load factor increased by 2.1 percentage points to 82.0 per cent.

The capacity in Finnair’s largest traffic area, Asia, increased by 24.2 per cent in October and traffic grew by 27.2 per cent. The passenger load factor increased by 2.0 percentage points to 83.4 per cent. The selection of routes was otherwise unchanged year-on-year, but flights to Fukuoka were operated until the end of October and there were more frequencies to Bangkok, Tokyo and Hong Kong in particular.

In North Atlantic traffic, the operation of Chicago route continued until the end of October and capacity increased consequently by 33.1 per cent. In addition, the Miami route, operated also in the comparison period, replaced San Francisco route at the beginning of October. Traffic increased by 38.4 per cent and the passenger load factor rose by 3.2 percentage points to 82.5 per cent.

Finnair’s capacity in European traffic increased by 6.6 per cent reflecting added capacity especially to Berlin, Copenhagen and Moscow as well as four new A321 narrow-body aircraft. Traffic measured in RPK grew by 9.6 per cent year-on-year. The passenger load factor increased by 2.3 percentage points to 81.6 per cent. Domestic capacity increased by 6.5 per cent and traffic by 2.9 per cent. The passenger load factor decreased by 2.4 percentage points to 66.5 per cent.

Available Scheduled Cargo Tonne Kilometres increased by 19.8 per cent and Revenue Scheduled Cargo Tonne Kilometres increased by 16.8 per cent. The strongest growth markets year-on-year were again Japan, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong and the main Chinese destinations. Finnair’s total cargo capacity also included three weekly freighter flights between Helsinki and Brussels, operated by DHL as well as cargo space rented on Japan Airlines’ daily flights between Tokyo and Helsinki.

In October, 82.9 per cent of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (88.8).