Finland’s flag-carrier Finnair has blamed lower cargo revenue and yields as among the reasons for declining overall revenue earned in the first quarter of this year.
The airline made €46.3m in revenue in the first quarter of 2024 from cargo, down from €53.4m in the same period of 2023.
Finnair’s revenue cargo tonne-km figure actually increased by 11.6% year on year, while total cargo tonne volumes carried increased by 11.9%; the cargo revenue fall of 13.3% year on year was due to the lower cargo yields.
The Asia sector accounted for €32m of the €46.3m cargo revenue.
Finnair made €192m from cargo over the course of 2023.
According to the carrier: “In the global air freight market, growing supply, softer demand and, thus, declining market prices resulted in lower Finnair’s cargo revenue than in the comparison period.
“However, the softened demand for cargo has already started to level off, which has a positive impact on market prices.”
In guidance issued in mid-February and re-issued with Finnair’s latest financial results, the airline warns that future demand for air cargo capacity might be adversely affected by “risks related to the impact of inflation and higher interest rates… causing uncertainty in the operating environment”.
It also noted that, “international conflicts and global political instability also cause uncertainty in the operating environment”.
On March 20 this year, Finnair celebrated 100 years since its first cargo flight from Helsinki.
The maiden commercial flight of Finnair (actually known then as Aero) was of a German-registered Junkers F 13 D-335 on 20 March 1924, which carried 162kg of mail from Helsinki across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia.
Today, Finnair is a network airline specialising in moving passengers and cargo between Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America.
While it has operated freighters in the past, most cargo is currently carried by on the long-haul flights of Finnair’s 25 widebody aircraft, including its Airbus A350s. And mail only represents a tiny percentage of the cargo carried.
Finnair Cargo ups its tonnage in February
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