Finnair experienced a 12.4% rise in passenger traffic on its Asian routes last month, but the airline was still unsatisfied by the performance.
Despite carrying 122,200 passengers to and from the region in May 2012, the rising traffic failed to keep pace with a 17.6% expansion of available seat capacity, which including the launch of new flights to Chongqing. This caused average cabin load factors to fall to just 71.6%.
“[The] Chongqing route has started off according to our expectations and has been well received by our customers. The load factor in Asian traffic was, however, somewhat below our target level,” said Finnair’s Chief Financial Officer, Erno Hildén.
Globally, Finnair carried 737,000 passengers last month – 11.6% more than in May 2011. Load factors however, remained at a subdued 62.6%.
