Finnair Traffic Performance in November 2022

In November, Finnair carried 750,800 passengers, which was 54.2% more than in November 2021.

The number of passengers in November 2022 was 13.4% less than in October 2022. Month-on-month figures are not fully comparable as there was one day less in November.

Further, Finnair had to cancel altogether c. 100 flights departing from Helsinki-Vantaa airport due to a strike in November.

The COVID-19 impact, including the strict travel restrictions imposed by some countries, still affected passenger traffic figures, and it was particularly visible in the Asian figures.

The Russian airspace closed at the end of February due to the counter sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic.

Thanks to robust demand for cargo, Finnair, however, continued operating to most of its Asian destinations despite the longer routings.

The negative impact of the airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures, which were already affected by the pandemic, was, nevertheless, visible in November.

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 November by 24.9% year-on-year but decreased by 10.9% month-on-month.

Finnair operated, on average, 251 daily flights (cargo-only included), which was 26.1% more than in November 2021 but 4.9% less than in October 2022.

Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 93.6% year-on-year but decreased by 12.4% month-on-month.

The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 25.4% points year-on-year but decreased by 1.2% points month-on-month to 71.4%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 23.3% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 27.6% as the operations between Stockholm and the North American destinations were discontinued at the end of October.

In European traffic, the ASKs were up by 52.0%. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 29.1%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 273.5%, in North Atlantic traffic by 62.8%, in European traffic by 55.1% and in domestic traffic by 26.2% year-on-year.

In November, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (68.2%) and North Atlantic traffic (66.4%) year-on-year. The PLF was 75.6% in European traffic and 68.1% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 294.4% year-on-year. In North Atlantic traffic, the number of passengers increased by 58.7%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 44.6% and in domestic traffic by 36.0%.

As a result of the Russian airspace closure, many cargo figures declined year-on-year in November.

However, most cargo figures improved month-on-month. Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 5.9% year-on-year (decreased by 3.8% month-on-month) but revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 12.3% (increased by 3.7% month-on-month).

Cargo-related available tonne kilometres decreased by 24.7% year-on-year (decreased by 3.9% month-on-month) and revenue tonne kilometres decreased by 39.4% (increased by 3.7% month-on-month).

These figures also include the cargo-only flights and in November, only a few such flights were operated.

Strong demand for cargo capacity continued in November, even though the total cargo tonnes decreased by 28.4% year-on-year (increased by 2.3% month-on-month).

In November, 86.8% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (79.7%).

Traffic statistics for December 2022 will be published on Thursday 5 January 2023.