The Finnish airline Finnair showed an increase in passengers in 2008. Transported passengers headed for Asia, alone, amounted to 1.3 million during the last year. Asian air travel rose by 16.5 percent compared to the previous year. This marks a record for Finnair, as announced by Senior Vice President Christer Haglund, spokesperson of Finnair, in Helsinki. Finnair, he said, would continue its successful Asia strategy.

Finnair transported a total of almost 8.3 million passengers in the last year and thus showed a ten percent plus in passenger kilometers compared to the previous year. The number of passengers increased by 2.3 percent compared to 2007. A decline of two percent is anticipated for scheduled flights this year. Scheduled flights to Asia are expected to decrease by two percent, as well, with the long-haul Boeing MD-11 being replaced by the new Airbus A330. The number of aircraft, however, will remain the same.

In December, the demand for connections to North America rose especially much with an increase of 29 percent, due to an additional flight per week headed to New York. The share of passenger kilometers to North America was about six percent.

The average returns per passenger kilometer decreased by more than four percent over the last year, and by 12 percent in the last quarter. „The prices of flight tickets have dropped significantly. Flying is less expensive today than ever before. Also, a decline in business trips is weakening the average returns towards the end of the year“, explained Haglund.