Finnair Traffic Performance in March 2023

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Finnair Plc                Investor News              6 April 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EEST

Robust demand in March as passenger load factor was on par with pre-pandemic levels; also solid cargo performance continued

In March, Finnair carried 953,000 passengers, which was 55.1% more than in March 2022 and 15.7% more than in February 2023. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there were three fewer days in February.

As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts are fading, March passenger traffic figures improved year-on-year. Further, Russian airspace was closed already during the comparison period, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, visible in March 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 March by 27.0% year-on-year and by 11.9% month-on-month. Finnair's traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 87.7% year-on-year and by 15.6% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 25.1% points year-on-year and by 2.5% points month-on-month to 77.7%. It was e.g. only 0.6% points lower than in March 2019.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 87.0% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 42.9% 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 12.5% whereas the Middle Eastern capacity increased by 539.3% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation commenced in November 2022. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 23.9%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 265.0% year-on-year and in North Atlantic traffic by 18.0%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 33.9%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 507.2% and in domestic traffic by 29.5%.

In March, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (78.1%) and North Atlantic traffic (68.7%) year-on-year. The PLF was 81.3% in European traffic, 74.1% in Middle Eastern traffic and 77.4% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 251.0% year-on-year and in North Atlantic traffic by 15.1%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 39.7%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 467.1% and in domestic traffic by 38.3%.

Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in March 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 28.2% year-on-year and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 18.3%. The total cargo tonnes (including cargo-only operations) increased by 16.3% year-on-year. Month-on-month increase of 14.6% was mainly explained by the longer month.  

In March, 84.6% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (85.7%).

Traffic statistics for April 2023 will be published on Friday 5 May 2023.

Finnair Traffic Performance March 2023
Month % Change YTD % Change
Total traffic
Passengers 1,000 953.0 55.1 2,592.7 71.8
Available seat kilometres mill 2,988.1 27.0 8,550.2 23.6
Revenue passenger kilometres mill 2,322.4 87.7 6,418.4 96.3
Passenger load factor % 77.7 25.1p 75.1 27.8p
Cargo tonnes total 11,321.8 16.3 30,658.3 -11.8
Available tonne kilometres mill 429.6 20.0 1,221.9 6.2
Revenue tonne kilometres mill 275.9 56.9 761.5 42.6
Asia
Passengers 1,000  112.4  251.0  321.8  202.5
Available seat kilometres mill 1,089.9  87.0 3,159.0  46.4
Revenue passenger kilometres mill  851.3  265.0 2,417.0  202.4
Passenger load factor %  78.1  38.1p  76.5  39.5p
Europe
Passengers 1,000  540.6  39.7 1,445.6  57.8
Available seat kilometres mill 1,076.1  12.5 3,036.1  21.8
Revenue passenger kilometres mill  874.8  33.9 2,346.5  52.1
Passenger load factor %  81.3  13.0p  77.3  15.4p
North Atlantic
Passengers 1,000  31.4  15.1  81.9  10.4
Available seat kilometres mill  354.5 - 42.9  981.4 - 43.4
Revenue passenger kilometres mill  243.6  18.0  636.8  12.7
Passenger load factor %  68.7  35.5p  64.9  32.3p
Middle East
Passengers 1,000  47.5  467.1  141.0  592.9
Available seat kilometres mill  283.2  539.3  829.4  589.2
Revenue passenger kilometres mill  209.9  507.2  625.6  615.9
Passenger load factor %  74.1 - 3.9p  75.4  2.8p
Domestic
Passengers 1,000  221.1  38.3  602.5  53.7
Available seat kilometres mill  184.4  23.9  544.3  32.6
Revenue passenger kilometres mill  142.8  29.5  392.4  42.9
Passenger load factor %  77.4  3.4p  72.1  5.2p
Cargo traffic
Europe tonnes 1,726.3 40.1 4,336.8 37.4
North Atlantic tonnes 1,363.7 -59.9 3,894.3 -54.2
Middle East tonnes 2,115.7 541.8 5,901.5 490.9
Asia tonnes 6,002.1 62.6 16,321.2 15.0
Domestic tonnes 34.6 11.2 97.8 9.7
Cargo scheduled traffic total tonnes 11,242.4 29.4 30,551.6 13.4
Cargo flights tonnes** 79.4 -92.4 106.6 -98.6
Cargo traffic tonnes total 11,321.8 16.3 30,658.3 -11.8
Available tonne kilometres* mill  119.7  15.7  342.2 - 11.6
Revenue tonne kilometres mill  68.4  4.2  187.8 - 22.5
Available sched. cargo tonne kms* mill  118.8  28.2  340.9  9.7
Revenue sched. cargo tonne kms mill  67.8  18.3  187.1  2.2
Cargo load factor* %  57.1 - 6.3p  54.9 - 7.7p
- North-Atlantic cargo load factor* %  53.3 - 13.8p  53.7 - 4.9p
- Asia cargo load factor* %  63.0 - 2.2p  59.9 - 4.9p
Scheduled traffic cargo load factor* %  57.1 - 4.8p  54.9 - 4.0p

* Based on average operational cargo capacity

** Including purchased traffic

  • Change %: Change compared to the figures of the respective periods in the previous year (p = points, N/A = not available).
  • Available seat kilometres. ASK: Total number of seats available multiplied by 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.

Further information: 
Finnair Media Desk, +358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com  
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Finnair Group website: https://company.finnair.com/en

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