Finnair carries 85.9% more passengers in February 2023

In February, Finnair carried 823,500 passengers, which was 85.9% more than in February 2022 and 0.9% more than in January 2023. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there were three fewer days in February.

As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts is fading, passenger traffic figures for Finnair have improved year-on-year. The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, visible in February 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.

Finnair’s overall capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased in February by 24.8% year-on-year but decreased by 7.7% month-on-month. Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 114.0% year-on-year but decreased by 3.8% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 31.4% points year-on-year and by 3.1% points month-on-month to 75.2%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 38.1% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 44.7% as the operations between Stockholm and North American destinations were discontinued at the end of October 2022. In European traffic, the ASKs were up by 31.1% whereas the Middle Eastern capacity increased by 555.1% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation which commenced in November 2022. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 51.3%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 225.0% year-on-year and in North Atlantic traffic by 30.2%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 63.1%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 646.6% and in domestic traffic by 50.1%.

In February, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (76.1%) and North Atlantic traffic (59.5%) year-on-year. The PLF was 79.0% in European traffic, 78.1% in Middle Eastern traffic and 73.0% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 222.3% year-on-year and in North Atlantic traffic by 27.1%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 72.3%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 623.4% and in domestic traffic by 61.4%.

As a result of the Russian airspace closure, many cargo figures declined year-on-year in February. Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 3.0% year-on-year but revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 2.7%. Good cargo performance continued, however, in February, even though the total cargo tonnes (including cargo-only operations) decreased by 20.8% year-on-year as Finnair operated several cargo-only flights during February 2022. Month-on-month increase was 4.5% despite the shorter month.