Finnair Reports March 2010 Traffic

Finnair's scheduled traffic grew in March 2010 by 19% compared with March the previous year. The passenger load factor of scheduled flights rose by more than 12 percentage points. In January-March the average yield per passenger kilometre in scheduled traffic was 7% lower than the same period in 2009.

"The focus of business travel demand has shifted to outside of Finland. Long-haul traffic business class sales in particular are clearly better than before. The price level of flight tickets is still low, however," said Finnair's SVP Communications Christer Haglund.

Finnair traffic overall only grew by a little less than 2% because leisure flight demand has declined by more than 30%. Scheduled flights carried 600,000 passengers, which is 10% more than a year earlier. The number of passengers carried on all traffic in March was nearly 700,000.

Asian traffic grew in March by 27%, with a total of 114,000 passengers travelling on Asian flights. The load factor in Asia traffic was also good in March, at nearly 87%. The passenger load factor for all traffic was 80%.

"Due to successful capacity management, Finnair's aircraft are flying fuller than before. Improving the load factor by 12 percentage points is exceptional," added Haglund.

North American traffic grew by nearly 25% and European traffic by 11%. The load factor on North American flights was 85% and in European traffic 70%.

In domestic traffic, Finnair has reduced its capacity according to plan. In March, domestic traffic declined by more than 4% and capacity was cut by 12%.

Leisure traffic declined in March by 31%, but the load factor was kept at 89% through 33% capacity cuts.

The amount of cargo carried on scheduled flights grew in March by 24%. On Asian flights, cargo carried was 30% more than last year.

Of Finnair's scheduled flights in March, nearly 84% arrived on schedule, which is slightly more than 7 percentage points less than last year. The punctuality of traffic overall declined by 6 percentage points to 82%.

See recent travel news from: Travel News Asia, Finnair, March 2010