2012-10-11 — /travelprnews.com/ — Passenger volumes at Finavia airports reached 4.8 million in the third quarter of 2012. The figure was 2.6 percent lower than in the same period in the previous year. The Asian volumes continue to increase at a slower pace than before.
In the third quarter, a total of 4,843,974 passengers used Finavia airports (2011: 4,974,873 passengers). The number of passengers totalled at 14,638,595 in the first three quarters of the year (2011: 14,377,620 passengers). Of the total volume, 28 percent were domestic and 72 percent were international passengers.
Between January and September, domestic traffic increased by 3.6 percent, totalling 4,165,386 passengers. In the third quarter, passenger volumes decreased by 6.6 percent.
“Variation in the number of domestic passengers has been considerably wider than before. Air carriers have reacted to fluctuations in demand by cutting the number of flights and abandoning some routes,” says Joni Sundelin, Senior Vice President in charge of the Finavia airport network, marketing and sales.
Of the regional airports, Joensuu, Turku, Oulu and Vaasa saw a significant increase of passenger volumes in the period from January to September. At the Jyväskylä, Tampere and Pori airports, passenger volumes decreased compared to the same period in the previous year.
Passenger volumes in international traffic at Finavia airports increased to 10,473,209 in the first three quarters. This is 1.1 percent more than in the previous year. In the third quarter, the number of passengers fell by 1.4 percent from the previous year, totalling 3,729,564.
In the period between July and September, a total of 3,891,564 passengers used Helsinki Airport, which is 3.4 percent less than in the previous year. Between January and September, the number of passengers totalled 11,372,192, which is 0.7 percent more than in the same period in 2011.
Asian traffic continues its upward trend with a total of 1,343,887 passengers between January and September. This means an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the previous year. The increase in the volumes of Asian traffic has been boosted by the direct route to Chongqing, China.
In the current market situation, changes in demand result in rapid adjustments of capacity by air carriers with the objective of achieving maximum occupancy rates. The average occupancy rates have been good in the third quarter, particularly in international traffic. The number of landings at Finavia airports during the period under review decreased by 11.4 percent, while the number of passengers only decreased by 2.6 percent.
Development in the air traffic business is also characterised by wider and faster fluctuation in demand, as well as cost pressure due to stringent competition between air carriers. The poor European economy and decelerating growth in Asia are expected to create long-term uncertainties in the industry.
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