Finnair transported 823,500 passengers in February, representing an increase of 85.9% from February 2022 and 0.9% from January 2023, reported on the official website of the airline company. However, due to three fewer days in February, month-on-month figures may not be entirely comparable.
While the impact of the pandemic on passenger traffic is subsiding, the closure of Russian airspace affected Asian passenger traffic in February, resulting in fewer passengers than pre-pandemic levels. The reported traffic figures based on distance do not account for longer routings caused by airspace closures.
Finnair’s Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased by 24.8% YoY, but decreased by 7.7% MoM in February. Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased by 114.0% YoY but decreased by 3.8% MoM. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 31.4% YoY and 3.1% MoM, reaching 75.2%.
In February, ASKs in Asian traffic increased by 38.1% YoY, whereas North Atlantic capacity decreased by 44.7%. European traffic saw an increase in ASKs by 31.1%, and Middle Eastern traffic by 555.1%, due to the cooperation with Qatar Airways. In domestic traffic, ASKs increased by 51.3%.
RPKs increased by 225.0% YoY in Asian traffic, 30.2% in North Atlantic traffic, 63.1% in European traffic, 646.6% in Middle Eastern traffic, and 50.1% in domestic traffic.
In February, the PLF improved YoY, particularly in Asian traffic (76.1%) and North Atlantic traffic (59.5%). In European traffic, the PLF was 79.0%, Middle Eastern traffic was 78.1%, and domestic traffic was 73.0%.
Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 222.3% YoY, North Atlantic traffic by 27.1%, European traffic by 72.3%, Middle Eastern traffic by 623.4%, and domestic traffic by 61.4%.
Scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 3.0% YoY, but revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 2.7% due to the Russian airspace closure. However, cargo performance remained good in February, with a month-on-month increase of 4.5%, despite a YoY decrease of 20.8%, including cargo-only operations.
In February, 79.7% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule, compared to 74.2% in the previous year.
