May passenger traffic figures improved year-on-year as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts have mostly faded and as the Russian airspace was closed already during the comparison period. The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure especially on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, still visible in May 2023 compared to the pre-pandemic figures. The distance-based reported traffic figures do not take into account longer routings caused by the airspace closure as they are based on Great-Circle distance.
The overall capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased in May by 20.4% year-on-year and by 8.0% month-on-month. Finnair's traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 44.1% year-on-year and by 7.8% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 12.2% points year-on-year but decreased by 0.2% points month-on-month to 74.0%.
The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 71.8% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 32.0% as the operations between Stockholm and the North American destinations were discontinued at the end of October 2022. In European traffic, the ASKs were up by 3.2%. The Middle Eastern capacity surged by 2,446.9% due to the Qatar Airways cooperation commenced in November 2022 and low traffic during the 2022 summer season. The ASKs in domestic traffic decreased by 3.2%.
RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 120.0% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 7.1%. In European traffic, RPKs increased by 19.0%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 2,495.1% and in domestic traffic by 8.9%.
In May, the PLF improved particularly in Asian traffic (70.5%) and North Atlantic traffic (70.0%) year-on-year. The PLF was 80.3% in European traffic, 61.3% in Middle Eastern traffic and 74.9% in domestic traffic.
Passenger numbers increased in Asian traffic by 125.1% year-on-year but decreased in North Atlantic traffic by 8.6%. In European traffic, passenger numbers increased by 14.7%, in Middle Eastern traffic by 1,791.9% and in domestic traffic by 10.7%.
Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in May due to Qatar Airways cooperation and increased Asian capacity even though discontinued operations between Sweden and the US cut North Atlantic cargo capacity. Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 30.9% and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres increased by 6.9% year-on-year. The total cargo tonnes (including cargo-only operations) increased only by 13.1% year-on-year as the number of cargo-only flights was very limited in May 2023. Month-on-month increase of 8.7% was partly explained by the longer month.
In May, 86.5% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (86.2%).
| Finnair Traffic Performance May 2023 | ||||
| Month | % Change | YTD | % Change | |
| Total traffic | ||||
| Passengers 1,000 | 960.4 | 23.4 | 4,421.5 | 49.0 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 3,176.5 | 20.4 | 14,667.5 | 21.6 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 2,351.3 | 44.1 | 10,951.2 | 71.2 |
| Passenger load factor % | 74.0 | 12.2p | 74.7 | 21.6p |
| Cargo tonnes total | 11,555.7 | 13.1 | 52,844.2 | - 3.8 |
| Available tonne kilometres mill | 460.5 | 24.0 | 2,109.2 | 11.2 |
| Revenue tonne kilometres mill | 279.4 | 32.5 | 1,301.0 | 38.1 |
| Asia | ||||
| Passengers 1,000 | 101.7 | 125.1 | 525.8 | 173.1 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 1,085.8 | 71.8 | 5,292.4 | 55.8 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 765.3 | 120.0 | 3,953.6 | 170.5 |
| Passenger load factor % | 70.5 | 15.4p | 74.7 | 31.7p |
| Europe | ||||
| Passengers 1,000 | 673.1 | 14.7 | 2,692.1 | 35.6 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 1,364.7 | 3.2 | 5,580.2 | 12.8 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 1,095.5 | 19.0 | 4,379.9 | 34.9 |
| Passenger load factor % | 80.3 | 10.7p | 78.5 | 12.8p |
| North Atlantic | ||||
| Passengers 1,000 | 37.6 | - 8.6 | 152.1 | - 3.3 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 403.1 | - 32.0 | 1,762.8 | - 40.9 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 282.0 | - 7.1 | 1,163.1 | - 1.5 |
| Passenger load factor % | 70.0 | 18.7p | 66.0 | 26.4p |
| Middle East | ||||
| Passengers 1,000 | 33.8 | 1,791.9 | 209.9 | 696.6 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 244.6 | 2,446.9 | 1,315.2 | 767.7 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 149.8 | 2,495.1 | 930.9 | 756.8 |
| Passenger load factor % | 61.3 | 1.1p | 70.8 | - 0.9p |
| Domestic | ||||
| Passengers 1,000 | 114.2 | 10.7 | 841.5 | 38.9 |
| Available seat kilometres mill | 78.3 | - 3.2 | 716.9 | 21.5 |
| Revenue passenger kilometres mill | 58.7 | 8.9 | 523.7 | 31.4 |
| Passenger load factor % | 74.9 | 8.3p | 73.0 | 5.5p |
| Cargo traffic | ||||
| Europe tonnes | 2,239.3 | 7.0 | 8,294.6 | 15.4 |
| North Atlantic tonnes | 1,412.9 | - 56.6 | 6,629.3 | - 55.7 |
| Middle East tonnes | 1,579.9 | 14,931.3 | 8,995.4 | 725.7 |
| Asia tonnes | 6,238.2 | 32.0 | 28,608.6 | 24.6 |
| Domestic tonnes | 34.1 | 10.6 | 158.4 | 8.4 |
| Cargo scheduled traffic total tonnes | 11,504.4 | 13.7 | 52,686.3 | 13.7 |
| Cargo flights tonnes** | 51.3 | - 51.7 | 157.9 | - 98.2 |
| Cargo traffic tonnes total | 11,555.7 | 13.1 | 52,844.2 | - 3.8 |
| Available tonne kilometres* mill | 130.9 | 29.6 | 594.3 | 0.8 |
| Revenue tonne kilometres mill | 69.1 | 6.2 | 321.9 | - 13.3 |
| Available sched. cargo tonne kms* mill | 130.5 | 30.9 | 592.6 | 17.4 |
| Revenue sched. cargo tonne kms mill | 68.8 | 6.9 | 320.9 | 4.9 |
| Cargo load factor* % | 52.8 | - 11.6p | 54.2 | - 8.8p |
| - North-Atlantic cargo load factor* % | 44.4 | - 19.8p | 49.0 | - 11.4p |
| - Asia cargo load factor* % | 60.3 | - 19.6p | 60.7 | - 8.1p |
| Scheduled traffic cargo load factor* % | 52.7 | - 11.9p | 54.1 | - 6.4p |
* Based on average operational cargo capacity
** Including purchased traffic
- Change %: Change compared to the figures of the respective periods in the previous year (p = points, N/A = not available).
- Available seat kilometres. ASK: Total number of seats available multiplied by kilometres flown.
- Revenue passenger kilometres. RPK: Number of revenue passengers carried multiplied by kilometres flown.
- Passenger load factor: Share of revenue passenger kilometres of available seat kilometres.
- Available tonne kilometres. ATK: Number of tonnes of capacity for carriage of passengers, cargo and mail multiplied by kilometres flown.
- Revenue tonne kilometres. RTK: Total revenue load consisting of passengers, cargo and mail multiplied by kilometres flown.
- Overall load factor: Share of revenue tonne kilometres of available tonne kilometres.