Helsinki-based Finnair Cargo moved 12,275 tonnes of air freight in September, a 4.5% increase on the same month in 2025, the carrier reported, with North Atlantic volumes jumping 55.8% year on year.

Freight rose in every market Finnair serves, but the North Atlantic lane drove the headline growth. Asia — the carrier's single largest market by tonnage — gained 6% to 7,866 tonnes.

Network-wide revenue cargo tonne kilometres reached 75.4 million in September, up 5.4% on the prior-year month.

How is the year-to-date tracking?

For the first nine months of the year, Finnair Cargo carried 109,295 tonnes, a 6.8% increase on the same period in 2025. Cumulative FTKs reached 666 million, up 6.4%.

That keeps the carrier ahead of its 2025 pace with one full quarter still to run before calendar-end. Both the monthly and the nine-month readouts show consistent gains on tonnage and on the yield-weighted FTK measure, indicating the carrier is converting added lift into revenue-generating volume rather than simply adding empty belly miles.

The September FTK gain of 5.4% outpaced the 4.5% tonnage rise. The gap, modest but consistent with the year-to-date pattern (6.4% FTKs against 6.8% tonnage), reflects the weight-and-distance profile of the cargo mix rather than any single lane.

Who is now handling Finnair Cargo's Baltic sales?

Separately, Finnair Cargo confirmed this summer that it has appointed 4RCargo as its general sales agent (GSA) covering Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The arrangement was announced at the TIACA Executive Summit in Warsaw.

A GSA mandate transfers pricing, booking and customer-service functions for a defined territory to a third-party representative under a commission-based commercial structure. For a mid-sized combination carrier such as Finnair, appointing a regional agent in smaller markets is the standard way to maintain customer coverage without absorbing the fixed cost of a staffed local office.

The Baltic mandate gives 4RCargo responsibility for representing Finnair Cargo across three European Union member states where the carrier does not maintain its own commercial presence. Shippers and forwarders in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius will now book, quote and trace through 4RCargo rather than a Finnair Cargo sales contact.

What does the data mean for shippers?

Asia at 7,866 tonnes represents roughly 64% of September's 12,275-tonne total. That share has supported the carrier's network economics for several quarters: belly-hold freight on long-haul Asia flights generates more FTKs per tonne than short-haul European feeds, and the 6% Asia gain is therefore a meaningful contributor to the headline 5.4% FTK increase.

The 55.8% North Atlantic surge is the standout figure. Forwarders with transatlantic freight contracts should expect Finnair to defend that volume into the autumn peak, and the data signals a clear capacity-demand imbalance in the carrier's favour on that lane during September.

For the Baltic market itself, the GSA change brings local forwarders a single point of contact and consolidates pricing across three smaller states that previously may have been served by separate arrangements. Commission-based GSAs typically price aggressively to defend territory, which can keep local spot rates competitive.

What is the forward trajectory?

Finnair Cargo's nine-month 6.8% tonnage growth leaves the carrier tracking well above its 2025 base. If September's 4.5% monthly gain and the 55.8% North Atlantic rate hold through the final quarter, Finnair Cargo will enter 2027 from a position of volume momentum rather than retrenchment — and with 4RCargo now running its Baltic sales channel, the carrier's commercial coverage in northern Europe is broader than at any point this year.