Finnair’s traffic figures continued on downward trend in October
Capacity cut in line with reduced demand as cost-efficiency measure
|
The Finnish national carrier Finnair’s operating statistics for the month of October make grim reading. On top of that, the Finnish Air Line Pilots' Association (SLL) is still threatening the airline with a strike of all pilots as of November 16th if a new labour contract is not settled before that.
Percentage-wise the company’s central operating figures were still in a double-digit decline last month, with the exception of cargo operations, which presumably have already levelled off.
In fact, last month Finnair transported around five per cent more cargo than in October 2008.
But for an airline such as Finnair the real cash cow is its passenger traffic, particularly on the scheduled service routes.
The demand for these services lagged 10.7 per cent behind the figure from a year ago. In January-October the average decline was 7.8 per cent, which means the fall in the demand has only accelerated.
The company has reacted to this development by reducing its capacity. India’s Mumbai has been dropped out altogether from Finnair’s list of destinations and on other routes departures have been cut here and there.
The aim has been to develop Finnair into a network airline, the strategic cornerstone of which is the feeder traffic on smaller aircraft from all over Europe into Helsinki-Vantaa, from where wide-bodied planes are then used to take the passengers to various longhaul destinations in Asia.
In terms of passenger volumes, the last-mentioned operations already count for more than half of the company’s regular traffic capacity.
In the light of the latest traffic figures, even these operations are experiencing difficulties.
The demand on the European routes fell in October by 9.5 per cent, compared to 7.8 per cent during the earlier part of the year. The corresponding figures on the Asian routes were 12.1% and 9.5% respectively.
In the Asian connections Finnair lost some of its market share at least to Air France-KLM.
The most dramatic fall, however, was experienced in Finnair's leisure traffic, which, until now, has managed to survive the recession comparatively well. Leisure traffic pasengers carried were down by more than a fifth in October.
Still, the company’s biggest problem is not the falling passenger figures, but the collapse in the secured ticket revenue.
The revenue figures are normally only reported in connection with interim reports.
Percentage-wise the company’s central operating figures were still in a double-digit decline last month, with the exception of cargo operations, which presumably have already levelled off.
In fact, last month Finnair transported around five per cent more cargo than in October 2008.
But for an airline such as Finnair the real cash cow is its passenger traffic, particularly on the scheduled service routes.
The demand for these services lagged 10.7 per cent behind the figure from a year ago. In January-October the average decline was 7.8 per cent, which means the fall in the demand has only accelerated.
The company has reacted to this development by reducing its capacity. India’s Mumbai has been dropped out altogether from Finnair’s list of destinations and on other routes departures have been cut here and there.
The aim has been to develop Finnair into a network airline, the strategic cornerstone of which is the feeder traffic on smaller aircraft from all over Europe into Helsinki-Vantaa, from where wide-bodied planes are then used to take the passengers to various longhaul destinations in Asia.
In terms of passenger volumes, the last-mentioned operations already count for more than half of the company’s regular traffic capacity.
In the light of the latest traffic figures, even these operations are experiencing difficulties.
The demand on the European routes fell in October by 9.5 per cent, compared to 7.8 per cent during the earlier part of the year. The corresponding figures on the Asian routes were 12.1% and 9.5% respectively.
In the Asian connections Finnair lost some of its market share at least to Air France-KLM.
The most dramatic fall, however, was experienced in Finnair's leisure traffic, which, until now, has managed to survive the recession comparatively well. Leisure traffic pasengers carried were down by more than a fifth in October.
Still, the company’s biggest problem is not the falling passenger figures, but the collapse in the secured ticket revenue.
The revenue figures are normally only reported in connection with interim reports.
Helsingin Sanomat