Finnair's Asian traffic up by 8 per cent in 2010

(Warsaw 20.1.2011) In 2010, boosted by Asian traffic, Finnair's scheduled traffic grew by 2.5% compared with the previous year. Finnair’s Asian traffic alone grew by 8%. In Poland ticket sales grew by over 7 % compared to 2009. The increase in traffic from Poland to Finnair's Asian destinations was close to 16 %.

In total Finnair carried 6.2 million passengers in scheduled traffic during the year, which was just under 1% less than the previous year. In Asian traffic, Finnair carried more than 1.2 million passengers.

“We have done well in achieving growth in Asian traffic in line with our strategy, and the price level of tickets has also developed more favourably,” says Finnair's Chief Financial Officer Erno Hildén.

On all Finnair flights, 7.1 million passengers were carried in 2010. Finnair's overall traffic was reduced by just under 4 % as a result of the volcanic eruption in Iceland in the spring, a cabin staff strike and a decline in leisure traffic.

Unit revenues per passenger kilometre in Finnair's scheduled traffic rose in the final quarter of the year by 15%. Due to the strong third quarter, unit revenues per passenger kilometre rose in the whole of last year by 9%. This positive development was due mainly to an increase in business travel between Europe and Asia.

Finnair's traffic between Warsaw and Helsinki declined by 4 %. However, the number off tickets sold in Poland increased by 7 % and the value of tickets sold by 27 % compared to 2009.

”We did particularly well with regards to our Asian destinations where the overall increase in traffic from Poland was almost 16 %, and 33 % in business class alone”, says Juhani Nuoramo, Finnair's Sales Director in Poland. ”For example traffic from Warsaw to Seoul grew by 142 %, to Delhi by 45 % and to Beijing by 25 % compared to the previous year. When it comes to our Japanese destinations Nagoya, Tokyo and Osaka, the traffic from Poland grew by 38 %”, Nuoramo continues.  

The amount of cargo carried by Finnair grew by 38% in 2010. The strong growth was due mainly to the cargo aircraft operations that began in May, but also because of a pick-up in cargo demand, particularly in Asia.

For more information, please contact:

Radoslaw Podhorecki, Sales Manager Corporate Sales, tel. +48 601 370 178 or +48 22 657 00 17

Mr. Erno Hildén, Chief Financial Officer, tel. +358 9 818 8550

Finnair blogs: http://blogs.finnair.com

Finnair on Facebook: www.facebook.com/finnair

Photobank: www.finnair.com/gallery