Airlines

Finnair Traffic Performance in May 2023

Finnair found its Asian network strategy effectively broken by the longer flight times imposed by the closure of Russian airspace (photo: Finnair).

In May, Finnair carried 960,400 passengers, which was 23.4% more than in May 2022 and 10.6% more than in April 2023.

Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there was one day less in April.

May passenger traffic figures improved year-on-year as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts have mostly faded and as the Russian airspace was closed already during the comparison period.

The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure especially on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, still visible in May 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 May by 20.4% year-on-year and by 8.0% month-on-month.

Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 44.1% year-on-year and by 7.8% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 12.2% points year-on-year but decreased by 0.2% points month-on-month to 74.0%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 71.8% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 32.0% 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 3.2%.

The Middle Eastern capacity surged by 2,446.9% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation commenced in November 2022 and low traffic during the 2022 summer season. The ASKs in domestic traffic decreased by 3.2%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 120.0% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 7.1%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 19.0%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 2,495.1% and in domestic traffic by 8.9%.

In May, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (70.5%) and North Atlantic traffic (70.0%) year-on-year. The PLF was 80.3% in European traffic, 61.3% in Middle Eastern traffic and 74.9% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 125.1% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 8.6%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 14.7%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 1,791.9% and in domestic traffic by 10.7%.

In May, 86.5% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (86.2%).

Traffic statistics for June 2023 will be published on Friday 7 July 2023.

Finnair Traffic Performance May 2023
Month% Change YTD% Change
Total traffic
Passengers 1,000 960.4 23.44,421.5 49.0
Available seat kilometres mill3,176.5 20.414,667.5 21.6
Revenue passenger kilometres mill2,351.3 44.110,951.2 71.2
Passenger load factor % 74.0 12.2p 74.7 21.6p
Cargo tonnes total11,555.7 13.152,844.2– 3.8
Available tonne kilometres mill 460.5 24.02,109.2 11.2
Revenue tonne kilometres mill 279.4 32.51,301.0 38.1
Asia
Passengers 1,000 101.7 125.1 525.8 173.1
Available seat kilometres mill1,085.8 71.85,292.4 55.8
Revenue passenger kilometres mill 765.3 120.03,953.6 170.5
Passenger load factor % 70.5 15.4p 74.7 31.7p
Europe
Passengers 1,000 673.1 14.72,692.1 35.6
Available seat kilometres mill1,364.7 3.25,580.2 12.8
Revenue passenger kilometres mill1,095.5 19.04,379.9 34.9
Passenger load factor % 80.3 10.7p 78.5 12.8p
North Atlantic
Passengers 1,000 37.6– 8.6 152.1– 3.3
Available seat kilometres mill 403.1– 32.01,762.8– 40.9
Revenue passenger kilometres mill 282.0– 7.11,163.1– 1.5
Passenger load factor % 70.0 18.7p 66.0 26.4p
Middle East
Passengers 1,000 33.81,791.9 209.9 696.6
Available seat kilometres mill 244.62,446.91,315.2 767.7
Revenue passenger kilometres mill 149.82,495.1 930.9 756.8
Passenger load factor % 61.3 1.1p 70.8– 0.9p
Domestic
Passengers 1,000 114.2 10.7 841.5 38.9
Available seat kilometres mill 78.3– 3.2 716.9 21.5
Revenue passenger kilometres mill 58.7 8.9 523.7 31.4
Passenger load factor % 74.9 8.3p 73.0 5.5p
Cargo traffic
Europe tonnes2,239.3 7.08,294.6 15.4
North Atlantic tonnes1,412.9– 56.66,629.3– 55.7
Middle East tonnes1,579.914,931.38,995.4 725.7
Asia tonnes6,238.2 32.028,608.6 24.6
Domestic tonnes 34.1 10.6 158.4 8.4
Cargo scheduled traffic total tonnes11,504.4 13.752,686.3 13.7
Cargo flights tonnes** 51.3– 51.7 157.9– 98.2
Cargo traffic tonnes total11,555.7 13.152,844.2– 3.8
Available tonne kilometres* mill 130.9 29.6 594.3 0.8
Revenue tonne kilometres mill 69.1 6.2 321.9– 13.3
Available sched. cargo tonne kms* mill 130.5 30.9 592.6 17.4
Revenue sched. cargo tonne kms mill 68.8 6.9 320.9 4.9
Cargo load factor* % 52.8– 11.6p 54.2– 8.8p
– North-Atlantic cargo load factor* % 44.4– 19.8p 49.0– 11.4p
– Asia cargo load factor* % 60.3– 19.6p 60.7– 8.1p
Scheduled traffic cargo load factor* % 52.7– 11.9p 54.1– 6.4p
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