Finnair Traffic Up, Average Ticket Prices Stay Low

February 9, 2009

Finnair posted a rise in traffic in January and an increase in capacity, but said ticket prices remained low due to weak demand for business travel.

"The average (ticket) price is still clearly below last year's level, because business travel continues to fall," Finnair spokesman Christer Haglund said in a statement on Monday.

In revenue passenger kilometers, a measure of the number of passengers and kilometers flown, Finnair's traffic rose 6.3 percent in January from a year ago, despite a 1 percent drop in number of passengers, as the length of flights increased.

Struggling like other airlines with declining travel and overcapacity amid the global economic slump, Finnair last week reported a fourth-quarter operating loss of EUR60 million euros (USD$77.5 million), cut dividends and said it faces the gloomiest outlook in years.

Last month the airline cut its capacity on scheduled flights by more than 5 percent.

Leisure traffic was up 15.7 percent in the month, supported by a 16.7 percent increase in capacity in that part of the business.

In Asian scheduled traffic, Finnair cut capacity by 8 percent in January, resulting in a less than 2 percent increase in traffic figures.

North American traffic grew because of the addition of an extra New York flight per week.

Figures for cargo remained weak. Measured in tonnes carried, Finnair cargo fell in January by 20.7 percent.