Finnair has released passenger data for September 2022 which clearly shows a steady climb of 198.7% compared to September 2021.
The overall capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased in September 2022 by 117.5% year-on-year but decreased by 2.3% month-on-month. Finnair operated, on average, 268 daily flights (cargo-only included), which was 86.1% more than in September 2021 and 5.9% more than in August 2022. The differences between capacity figures compared to September 2021 are explained by the longer average stage length of flights operated and by the larger gauge of aircraft operated. Finnair's traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 306.4% year on year but decreased by 4.9% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 35.2% points year on year but decreased by 2.1% points month-on-month to 75.7%.
According to Finnair, the pandemic impact including the strict travel restrictions imposed by many countries still affected passenger traffic figures, and it was particularly visible in the Asian regions.
The Russian airspace closed at the end of February due to the counter-sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. Thanks to robust demand for cargo, Finnair, however, continued operating to most of its Asian destinations despite the longer routings. Thus, the negative impact of the airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures, which were already affected by the pandemic, remained moderate in September 2022.
Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 828.8% year-on-year. In North Atlantic traffic, the number of passengers increased by 559.0%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 197.2% and in domestic traffic by 81.7%.
Despite the Russian airspace closure, most cargo figures improved year-on-year and remained close to August 2022 figures. Available scheduled cargo tonne-kilometers increased by 63.2% year-on-year and decreased by 7.9% month-on-month while the revenue scheduled cargo tonne-kilometers increased by 36.8% but decreased by 0.3% month-on-month, both due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scheduled flights in September 2021.
Strong demand for cargo capacity continued in September 2022 even though the total cargo tonnes decreased by 4.0% year-on-year (decreased by 0.2% month-on-month).