Although the COVID-19 pandemic impact was still clearly visible in the May traffic figures, the number of passengers increased and cargo-only flights more than doubled from April 2020
In May, Finnair carried 26,700 passengers, which is 97.9% less than in the corresponding period of 2019 but 65.0% more than in April 2020.
The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) decreased in May by 97.7% year-on-year. Finnair's traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) decreased by 99.1%. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased by 49.9% points to 29.9%.
All passenger traffic figures were still heavily impacted by the significant COVID-19 pandemic related capacity reductions, which was visible especially in the Asian and North Atlantic figures as there were no scheduled flights to those destinations in May.
The ASK decline in Asian and North Atlantic traffic was 100.0%. In European traffic, the ASKs were down by 94.3%. The ASKs in domestic traffic decreased by 93.6%.
RPKs decreased in Asian and North Atlantic traffic by 100.0%, in European traffic by 98.0% and in domestic traffic by 95.3%.
The PLF was 28.3% in European traffic and 47.2% in domestic traffic, whereas there was no PLF figure in Asian or North Atlantic traffic due to zero passenger flights in May.
Passenger numbers decreased in Asian and North Atlantic traffic by 100.0%, in European traffic by 97.7% and in domestic traffic by 96.2%.
Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 99.6% year-on-year and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 99.7%, both due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on scheduled flights.
However, cargo related available tonne kilometres decreased by 76.3% and revenue tonne kilometres decreased by 68.5% and they included also the cargo-only flights operated primarily between Asia and Europe. Finnair operated 263 one-way cargo-only flights in May (112.1% more than in April 2020), the total cargo tonnes were up by 127.5% from April 2020 and the cargo load factor was clearly higher than in the corresponding period of 2019.