Finnair’s total capacity for October fell sharply, with the impact of COVID-19 “clearly visible,” new results showed.

For October 2020, Finnair’s overall capacity measured in available seat kilometers (ASK) fell by 88.5% year-on-year.

North America showed the highest fall in ASKs at 100% as there were no scheduled flights. Europe was second at 90.2% and Asia third at 86.6%. Domestic capacity fell by 66.3%.

“The differences between capacity figures are explained by the shorter operated flights on average and by smaller operated aircraft compared to October 2019,” explained Finnair.

“The COVID-19 impact, including the exceptionally strict travel restrictions imposed by Finland, still affected all passenger traffic figures. It was visible especially in the North Atlantic figures.”

Traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometers also plummeted, falling 95.6% in the period, with a similar regional pattern to capacity, while load factors dipped by 50.7% to 31.6%.

Total cargo tonnage rose 26.1% from September 2020, although available scheduled cargo tonne kilometers were still down by 87.4% year-on-year as the carrier suffered from the loss of the belly hold capacity on its passenger aircraft.

Finnair’s top ten departure airports (October 2020)

Data from OAG Schedules Analyser

Photo credit: Nigel Howarth / Aviation Week Network