Helsinki-based airline Finnair carried 1,141,700 passengers in October – 8.2 per cent more than in the corresponding month of 2017.
The number of passengers continued to grow in European and domestic traffic, which grew year-on-year (YOY) by 11 per cent and 8.3 per cent. 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 per cent YOY. Finnair’s traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) grew by 5.3 per cent.
The higher ASK growth rate was reflected in the passenger load factor (PLF), which decreased YOY by 2.6 percentage points to 79.5 per cent.
Finnair said long-haul capacity grew moderately in October since no new Airbus A350 aircraft have been introduced after the reference period. The ASK growth in Asian traffic was 2.2 per cent.
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 per cent.
In European traffic the ASK growth was 18.2 per cent, 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 per cent.
In October, RPKs grew slower than ASKs which was reflected in the PLFs. RPKs decreased by 0.5 per cent in Asian traffic and grew in European traffic 13.7 per cent, in domestic traffic 8.8 per cent and in North American traffic 2.5 per cent.
The PLF was 81.2 per cent in Asian traffic, 78.5 per cent in European traffic, 80.2 per cent in North American traffic, and 66.6 per cent in domestic traffic.
In the first 10 months of the year, Finnair has carried 11.2 million passengers across its network, 12.6 per cent more than the same period in 2017. The PLF is 83 per cent for the period, a fall of 1.1 percentage points. ASKs have increased 15.9 per cent and RPKs 14.4 per cent.
