Increasing passenger numbers in December lifted the 2018 passenger volume to all-time-high, 13.3 million passengers

In December, Finnair carried 1,033,300 passengers, 8.6% more than in the corresponding period of 2017. The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased in December by 11.1%. Finnair's traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased by 5.5%. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased year-on-year by -4.0% points to 76.4%.

Finnair’s long-haul capacity increased slightly with one new A350 aircraft entering the service in late December. The ASK growth in Asian traffic was 6.3%, mainly due to the new route opening to Nanjing and extended frequencies to Osaka, Hong Kong and Delhi. The North American traffic decreased by -4.3%.

In European traffic the ASK growth was 20.7%, which derived from the increase in the narrow-body fleet size year-on-year and the additional seating capacity added to some of the existing narrow-body aircraft. The added capacity was directed at frequency additions to several destinations in Europe but focused more on the longer routes to Southern Europe and to new route openings to Stuttgart, Lisbon, Lyon and Minsk after the comparison period. ASK growth in domestic traffic was 21.8% mostly due to the enlarged capacity and additions to longer flights.

In December, RPKs grew slower than ASKs which was reflected in the passenger load factors. RPKs decreased by -0.5% in Asian traffic and grew in European traffic by 16.4%, decreased in North American traffic by -2.1% and grew in domestic traffic by 12.7%. The PLF was 77.8% in Asian traffic, 75.7% in European traffic, 80.0% in North American traffic, and 64.6% in domestic traffic.

Passenger numbers declined in Asian traffic by -0.1% and in North American traffic by -0.4% and increased in European traffic by 11.4% and in domestic traffic by 10.3%

Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 17.4% year-on-year. Revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 12.8% mostly driven by the strong positive cargo market development in Japan and Western Europe. Additionally, favourable development was also visible in our Nordic markets.

In December 63.4% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (64.0%).

Traffic statistics for January 2019 will be published on Thursday, 7 February 2019.

Finnair