Robust demand in March as passenger load factor was on par with pre-pandemic levels; also solid cargo performance continued
In March, Finnair carried 953,000 passengers, which was 55.1% more than in March 2022 and 15.7% more than in February 2023. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there were three fewer days in February.
As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts are fading, March passenger traffic figures improved year-on-year. Further, Russian airspace was closed already during the comparison period, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, visible in March 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 March by 27.0% year-on-year and by 11.9% month-on-month. Finnair’s traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 87.7% year-on-year and by 15.6% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 25.1% points year-on-year and by 2.5% points month-on-month to 77.7%. It was e.g. only 0.6% points lower than in March 2019.
The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 87.0% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 42.9% 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 12.5% whereas the Middle Eastern capacity increased by 539.3% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation commenced in November 2022. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 23.9%.
RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 265.0% year-on-year and in North Atlantic traffic by 18.0%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 33.9%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 507.2% and in domestic traffic by 29.5%.
In March, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (78.1%) and North Atlantic traffic (68.7%) year-on-year. The PLF was 81.3% in European traffic, 74.1% in Middle Eastern traffic and 77.4% in domestic traffic.
Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 251.0% year-on-year and in North Atlantic traffic by 15.1%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 39.7%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 467.1% and in domestic traffic by 38.3%.
Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in March due to Qatar Airways cooperation and increased Asian capacity even though discontinued operations between Sweden and the US cut North Atlantic cargo capacity. Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 28.2% year-on-year and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 18.3%. The total cargo tonnes (including cargo-only operations) increased by 16.3% year-on-year. Month-on-month increase of 14.6% was mainly explained by the longer month.
In March, 84.6% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (85.7%).
Finnair Traffic Performance March 2023
| Cargo traffic | ||||
| Europe tonnes | 1,726.3 | 40.1 | 4,336.8 | 37.4 |
| North Atlantic tonnes | 1,363.7 | -59.9 | 3,894.3 | -54.2 |
| Middle East tonnes | 2,115.7 | 541.8 | 5,901.5 | 490.9 |
| Asia tonnes | 6,002.1 | 62.6 | 16,321.2 | 15.0 |
| Domestic tonnes | 34.6 | 11.2 | 97.8 | 9.7 |
| Cargo scheduled traffic total tonnes | 11,242.4 | 29.4 | 30,551.6 | 13.4 |
| Cargo flights tonnes** | 79.4 | -92.4 | 106.6 | -98.6 |
| Cargo traffic tonnes total | 11,321.8 | 16.3 | 30,658.3 | -11.8 |
| Available tonne kilometres* mill | 119.7 | 15.7 | 342.2 | – 11.6 |
| Revenue tonne kilometres mill | 68.4 | 4.2 | 187.8 | – 22.5 |
| Available sched. cargo tonne kms* mill | 118.8 | 28.2 | 340.9 | 9.7 |
| Revenue sched. cargo tonne kms mill | 67.8 | 18.3 | 187.1 | 2.2 |
| Cargo load factor* % | 57.1 | – 6.3p | 54.9 | – 7.7p |
| – North-Atlantic cargo load factor* % | 53.3 | – 13.8p | 53.7 | – 4.9p |
| – Asia cargo load factor* % | 63.0 | – 2.2p | 59.9 | – 4.9p |
| Scheduled traffic cargo load factor* % | 57.1 | – 4.8p | 54.9 | – 4.0p |
