International air and freight traffic continued to grow
Freight traffic volumes continued to grow in July-September, especially in rail traffic. The number of flights in Finnish airspace has also continued to increase, although the number of domestic flights decreased slightly. Companies and citizens are using traffic data in their business and everyday life more than ever before. The number of visits to Fintraffic's digital services has tripled.
“The volume of freight transport on both rail and road has started to increase this year. This is a good sign, which may anticipate a gradual recovery of economic activity. The volume of international air traffic has also continued to grow in Finland. Domestic air traffic is increasingly concentrated on longer routes, which is in line with our survey according to which the aircraft will become Finland's most popular mode of transport alongside trains for journeys of over 600 kilometers,” says Fintraffic CEO Pia Julin.
“Traffic data on things such as routes, connections and conditions is increasingly used to prepare for travel. A large increase in the use of Fintraffic's digital services shows that our investments in customer-centred activities and innovative services produce results: The Fintraffic Application won the Suomen paras asiakasteko award (Finland's best customer-oriented action), and our information services based on open traffic data increasingly support the ability of different actors to develop their own services for homes and companies,” Julin says.
Recovery of air traffic has continued to be steadfast
Demand for en-route services in Finland has increased significantly in the third quarter of this year. The total number of flights increased by 9.8 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The number of inbound and outbound flights increased by 11.9 per cent compared to the previous year. Overflights in Finnish airspace increased by 11.6%. Chinese airlines have continued to increase overflights, but other Asian and Middle Eastern airlines have also increased flight volumes.
Although the number of domestic flights has decreased slightly (-4.7%), the number of kilometres flown on domestic routes has increased. This indicates that the role of air traffic in domestic traffic is particularly emphasised over longer distances.
According to preliminary information, air traffic in Lapland will reach its pre-pandemic level in the coming winter, which is a positive signal especially from the perspective of northern tourism.
Rail freight volume increased by 21 per cent
In July-September, the volume of goods transported by rail was 21% higher than during the corresponding period the previous year. The increase in the volume of freight traffic is partly due to the transport of timber for the needs of factories and the introduction of raw wood terminals.
Commuter traffic increased by three per cent. The growth in commuter traffic is due in part to the trackwork carried out in Tikkurila, Vantaa a year ago, which restricted train traffic considerably more than it has during the corresponding period this year. The start of a train service between Karjaa and Hanko has also increased commuter traffic. In practice, this has increased commuter train traffic by approximately 12-14 train services a day, or about 400 trains a month. The number of long-distance trains decreased somewhat (-2.1%) compared to the corresponding period last year.
Train punctuality percentages as a whole declined slightly. Train punctuality was 91.7% (95.4%) in commuter traffic, 85.0% (89.8%) in long-distance traffic and 92.2% (94.2%) in rail freight services. These figures have been influenced by such factors as trackwork on the Tampere-Seinäjoki line section. However, punctuality was better in July-September than in April-June this year.
In the summer, a large number of trackwork was carried out in different parts of Finland, totalling 40,340 (39,781) trackwork permits. As a result, new speed limits have been set in different parts of Finland, which has also affected the punctuality of trains. Major railway projects include the Espoo Rail Line, Tikkurila, Kytömaa-Ainola, construction of the Seinäjoki Travel Centre, various railway yard projects and Kupittaa-Turku.
Heavy traffic volumes increased on roads
In July-September, total road traffic volumes on main roads (highways and main roads) have increased slightly from what they were during the same period last year.
Heavy traffic volumes have increased by slightly more than three per cent. Similarly, there has been an increase of about one per cent in passenger car and van volumes.
This year, our roads have also once again been busy with large special transport vehicles. However, this year's figures have not quite reached the record levels of recent years: around 7,600 special transport permits were issued during the period January - September.
Fintraffic's digital services reach more Finns than ever before
During the third quarter of 2024, Fintraffic's digital services logged nearly 2.3 million visits (Q2/2024, 1.8 million visits). Compared to the corresponding period in 2023, the number of visits to Fintraffic's digital services has tripled. The Fintraffic Application, which won the Suomen paras asiakasteko 2024 award in October, is still our most popular service and has been used 1.2 million times. In addition, use of the Traffic Situation service has developed favourably.
In the third quarter of the year, 1.52 billion calls were made to the traffic data open interfaces provided by Fintraffic in the Digitraffic service. In September, the number of calls reached an all-time monthly record: 560 million . This is an increase of 35.2%.compared to the same period last year. A total of 173.35 TB of data was transferred, which is an increase of 40.3% compared to the same period last year.
During the third quarter of the year, approximately 4.40 billion interface calls were made to the Digitransit platform to gain access to public transport journey data. The increase was 39% compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter, a total of 62.12 TB of data was transferred in Digitransit. Finnish public transport journey planners make extensive use of the shared knowledge base through the Digitransit platform.
Fintraffic provides real-time traffic information to consumers, companies and the media, as well as open-source data for transport operators, logistics service providers and software developers to use in a variety of map services and navigators.
"The collection, processing and use of transport data is the cornerstone of a modern transport system, and the basis on which transport services are created. Data collection benefits individual road users but also has a wider impact on society and the economy: transport data is key to maintaining and developing an efficient, safe and sustainable transport system. Open data can be used to create entirely new business,” says Janne Lautanala Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer at Fintraffic.
