In January, Finnair carried 1,007,800 passengers, 4.4% more than in the corresponding period of 2018. The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased in January by 10.0%. Finnair's traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased by 5.7%. The passenger load factor decreased year-on-year by 3.1% points to 77.0%.
Finnair’s long-haul capacity increased with one new A350 aircraft that entered the service in December 2018. The ASK growth in Asian traffic was 7.7%, mainly due to the new route opening to Nanjing and extended frequencies to Osaka, Hong Kong, Phuket and Delhi. The North American traffic increased by 3.1%.
In European traffic the ASK growth was 16.9%. The growth derived from one new narrow-body aircraft year-on-year, additional seating capacity in some of the existing narrow-body aircraft, on average longer routes and better aircraft utilisation, according to the airline.
The added capacity was directed to the longer southern European routes and to new route openings to Stuttgart, Lisbon Lyon and Minsk after the comparison period. Capacity in domestic traffic increased by 1.6%. Harsh winter conditions affected especially domestic and European traffic and caused cancellations, which is visible in these traffic areas’ traffic data.
In January, RPKs grew slower than ASKs which was reflected in the passenger load factors. RPKs increased by 3.9% in Asian traffic and grew in European traffic by 11.1%, in North American traffic by 3.6% and decreased in domestic traffic by -4.3%. The PLF was 83.8% in Asian traffic, 70.0% in European traffic, 79.9% in North American traffic, and 56.6% in domestic traffic.
Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 4.4%, in North American traffic by 4.5% and in European traffic by 8.0%, and decreased in domestic traffic by 4.3%
Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 17.2% year-on-year. Revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 25.9% mostly driven by the strong positive cargo market development in Japan and Western Europe. Additionally, Nordic markets developed favourably.
Difficult weather and winter conditions at Finnair's home hub Helsinki-Vantaa and elsewhere in Europe had an adverse effect on punctuality, and in January 64.7% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (69.4%).