Finland’s flag carrier, Finnair has this week announced its latest passenger figures for March 2023. Finnair is said to be “on par” with pre-pandemic levels – a good sign for the future.
The figures
Finnair said this week that they carried a total of 953,000 passengers in the month of March 2023. However, it states that as of current figures, this year is not compatible as February had three fewer days. Across its entire network – both long and short haul, the passenger load factor of the airline was 77.7%.
Looking at the breakdown of figures by region: Finnair carried 112,400 passengers to Asia; 540,600 passengers to Europe; 47,500 passengers to the Middle East; 31,400 passengers to North America, and 221,100 passengers domestically in Finland.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the ban of Russian airspace, Finnair said that the impact could be seen in the Asia passenger figures for March ‘23. Finnair was previously dependent on using Russia’s airspace on flights to Asia.
In a statement, Finnair said:
“Further, Russian airspace was closed already during the comparison period, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. The negative impact of the Russian airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures was, however, visible in March 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.”
Adding more to the positive news, Finnair said that 84.6% of their flights on its entire network arrived on time.
Cargo figures
Passenger numbers aren’t the only figures recovering from the pandemic. Finnair is also reporting a strong amount of cargo being flown on its network. This is due to, according to Finnair, their cooperation with Qatar Airways and an increase in Asian capacity.
Photo: Finnair
Finnair carried a total of 11,321.8 tonnes of cargo in the March 2023 period. They also had a cargo load factor of 57.1%. The region with the highest cargo tonnage came from Asia, where Finnair carried 6,002.1 tonnes of cargo.
“Many cargo figures increased year-on-year in March 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 kilometers increased by 28.2% year-on-year and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometers increased by 18.3%. The total cargo tonnes (including cargo-only operations) increased by 16.3% year-on-year. Month-on-month increase of 14.6% was mainly explained by the longer month.”
Bright days ahead
Finnair is undoubtedly looking forward to a fantastic summer season ahead. With many Europeans heading for their summer vacations, the airline will get its fair share of passengers.
Photo: Finnair
From its base in Helsinki Airport, the carrier has plans to fly 21 weekly flights to North America. Flying to places such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and more, the highest frequency North American destination will be New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, with seven flights a week. Finnair is calling this massive summer schedule its “Super Summer Schedule.”
What do you think about the increased passenger figures at Finnair? Do you have any thoughts about the revival of aviation after the pandemic? Comment your thoughts in the comments below.
