Finnair has reported in February it carried 995,100 passengers – a year-on-year (YOY) rise of four per cent more than in the corresponding month of 2018.
2019 has started positively for the Helsinki-based airline with capacity growth to Europe and Asia, the airline’s key markets, boosting traffic and passengers numbers are up 4.2 per cent to two million in the first two months of the year.
The overall capacity measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) increased in February by 10.1 per cent. Finnair’s traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 4.3 per cent. The load factor decreased YOY by 4.5 percentage points to 79.7 per cent.
Finnair’s long-haul capacity increased YOY with two new Airbus A350 aircraft that entered service in December 2018 and in mid-February 2019.
The February ASK growth in Asian traffic was 7.8 per cent, mainly due to the new route opening to Nanjing (China) and extended frequencies to Osaka, Hong Kong, Phuket and Delhi. North American traffic decreased by 2.4 per cent.
In European traffic the ASK growth was 18.3 per cent. The growth derived from one new narrowbody aircraft YOY, additional seating capacity in some of the existing narrowbody aircraft, on average longer routes and better aircraft utilisation.
The added capacity was directed to the longer southern European routes and to new route openings to Stuttgart, Lisbon, Lyon and Minsk after the comparison period.
Finnair said capacity in domestic traffic increased by 2.8 per cent but harsh winter conditions affected especially domestic and European traffic and caused cancellations, which is visible in data for these regions.
