Finnair’s Asia loads fall again
Finnair’s load factors on routes to and from Asia continued to decline in September. The airline has been increasing capacity to the region, which it sees as a major growth area, but this is failing to be met by an upturn in passenger traffic. Last month Finnair’s load factor dropped 5.6 percentage points to 77.0% as an 8.1% rise in passenger traffic failed to keep pace with its 13.8% capacity expansion.
Year-to-date, the carrier’s Asian load factor has slumped 6.2 points to 75.8% after it added 25.7% more capacity to the region. Passenger traffic increased just 16.1%.
In a statement released today, Finnair said it was now unlikely to meet its profit forecast for the second half of 2011. The loss-making airline had said that it expected to return to the black in Q2 2011, but CEO Mika Vehvil