In March, Finnair's overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres grew by 3.3 per cent and traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres grew by 4.2 per cent year‐on‐year. The passenger load factor rose by 0.6%-points to 79.5 per cent.
The capacity in Asian traffic remained unchanged in March, while traffic increased by 0.1 per cent year‐on‐year on the back of slightly higher loads. Meanwhile, capacity in American traffic increased by 21.9 per cent due to the Miami route being operated this year, and traffic measured in RPK grew by as much as 30.1 per cent.
The capacity in European traffic grew by 2.6 per cent, while traffic grew by 3.6 per cent year‐on‐year. At the same time, the capacity in domestic traffic grew by 16.1 per cent and traffic by 14.5 per cent year‐on‐year, particularly due to the inclusion of the routes previously operated at Norra’s own commercial risk as Finnair’s purchased traffic after the reference period.
In January–March, the passenger unit revenue per available seat kilometre rose by 0.5 per cent year‐on‐year and totalled 5.17 euro cents.
"In the first quarter of 2016, the passenger unit revenue improved slightly in our long-haul traffic. Meanwhile, unit revenue developments were slightly negative on our domestic and European routes, where our capacity has increased faster and load developments have been sluggish", says Finnair CFO Pekka Vähähyyppä.
In March, the cargo capacity in scheduled traffic measured in Available Tonne Kilometres grew by 2.5 per cent, and Revenue Tonne Kilometres increased by 6.1 per cent year on year. The cargo load factor in scheduled traffic was 55.5 per cent. In addition, Finnair’s total freight capacity includes two weekly freighter flights between Helsinki and Brussels and two weekly freighter flights shared with IAG between Helsinki and London, both operated by DHL.
In March, 88.7 per cent of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (90.3).