Finnish national carrier Finnair carried 811,900 passengers in November 2023, 8.1% more than the same period last year, although 11.8% down on October 2023 due to expected seasonality.
Overall capacity increased in November 2023 by 14.4% year-on-year, with traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) also increasing by 13.6% year-on-year. However, although Finnair notes that although the pandemic’s impact has largely faded, ‘the negative impact of the Russian airspace closure especially on Asian traffic figures was, however, still visible’.
However, the available seat kilometres increase in Asian traffic was still up 20.5% year-on-year, helped by the additional capacity to Japan and South Korea, with Asian passenger numbers up 22.3%. The domestic market stayed mostly stable with a 0.3% increase in passengers in November, and Middle Eastern capacity grew by 27.8% year-on-year as flights between Helsinki and Doha (related to the Qatar Airways collaboration) commenced in mid-December 2022.