In April, Finnair's overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres increased by 9.9 per cent year‐on‐year, and traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres grew by 21.3 per cent. The passenger load factor increased by 7.8 percentage points to stand at 82.9 per cent.
The strong growth is emphasised by the weak comparison period, when passenger demand was affected by security concerns following a terror attack in the Brussels airport. In addition, the timing of Easter in April 2017 boosted leisure travel year-on-year.
The capacity in Finnair’s largest traffic area, Asia, increased by 2.8 per cent in April and traffic grew by 19.5 per cent due to a significantly higher passenger load factor. The positive capacity growth was mainly due to the higher passenger capacity of the A350 aircraft rolled-out in Asian traffic. Capacity growth was slowed down by the suspension of Finnair flights to Chongqing between 11 January and 2 May 2017 due to A350 pilot training.
The capacity in American traffic increased by 34.6 per cent year-on-year, and traffic measured in RPK increased by 51.7 per cent. The capacity growth was due to the opening of the seasonal Chicago route already in April this year. The Miami route continued to be operated by temporarily wet-leased aircraft and crew.
Finnair’s capacity in European traffic increased by 14.7 per cent reflecting new seasonal routes opened for the summer, and traffic grew by 20.2 per cent year-on-year. Domestic capacity increased by 9.4 per cent, particularly in Northern Finland, and traffic grew by 9.3 per cent year.
Available Scheduled Cargo Tonne Kilometres were broadly unchanged year-on-year (+0.1%), but Revenue Scheduled Cargo Tonne Kilometres decreased by 3.7 per cent reflecting changes in the route mix and fleet. Finnair’s total cargo capacity also included three weekly freighter flights between Helsinki and Brussels, operated by DHL.
In April, 86.7 per cent of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (94.3).