Finnair buys sustainable aviation fuel for use at Helsinki

Europe's leading outsourced airline, Finnair has purchased 750 tonnes of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel to help it try and reduce carbon emissions from flights; a small proportion of each flight ticket is used for sustainable aviation fuel

The airline says it is increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuel as part of its goal to reduce carbon emissions from flying. The sustainable aviation fuel it purchased from Neste will be available for use on flights from the airline's base of Helsinki Airport. 

Finnair aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, and sustainable aviation fuel is one of the most essential tools for reducing air travel emissions in the coming years. Using Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%* over the fuel’s life cycle compared to using fossil jet fuel. The fuel volume now purchased is Finnair's largest single batch of sustainable aviation fuel purchased to date. The SAF will be delivered by Neste to Helsinki Airport in early 2023. The 750 tonnes of SAF corresponds to approximately 400 flights between Helsinki and Stockholm using unblended, 100% SAF.  

"Finnair celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and reducing emissions from flying is essential to a sustainable future. In the coming years, sustainable aviation fuel will be one of the most important tools for reducing aviation-related emissions. We also involve our customers in this, and a small part of every flight ticket sold goes to the cost of sustainable aviation fuel," says Eveliina Huurre, Finnair's SVP, Sustainability. "In addition, customers can reduce the emissions of flying by using our carbon offsetting service, which combines SAF purchases and certified offsetting projects."   

Finnair backs down on mass subcontracting of cabin crew and pilot services.

In a climb down by the Helsinki-based Finnair, the company says it will not increase subcontracting in inflight services in Finland following savings agreed upon together with cabin crew

A savings agreement has been reached with Finnair's cabin crew. As a result, Finnair has today concluded the change negotiations it started in November and discontinued the subcontracting plan for inflight services on routes to/from Thailand and North America. The savings agreement is valid until the end of 2025.

Finnair has earlier agreed on savings with pilots, senior white-collar employees and engineers, and cabin crew based in Japan and Korea, and made local agreements that increase efficiency in Finnair Technical Services and different ground operation units. The savings agreements cover 87% of Finnair’s personnel.

 

”We are pleased that we have been able to find solutions together with our employees”, says Johanna Karppi, Senior Vice President, People and Culture at Finnair. “The double crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the closure of Russian airspace has had a major impact on Finnair's finances. The agreements with our employees support our important goal of restoring profitability. We are grateful that our employees have been willing to contribute to solving our profitability challenge to safeguard the future of Finnair and jobs at Finnair.”

 

Finnair is turning 100 years in November 2023 and celebrates with a new livery on two A350 jets.

Two Finnair A350 aircraft

 get a Moomin makeover

Finnair is turning 100 years in November 2023. To mark the centenary, the beloved Moomin characters are featured on the livery of two Finnair widebody aircraft for the duration of the year. 

 

Finnair has taped a picture of Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden in the livery of two of its Airbus A350 aircraft. The registration numbers of the aircraft are OH-LWP and OH-LWO. The Moomin aircraft will fly to various long-haul destinations in Finnair’s network, like Dallas, Tokyo and Bangkok. 

 

“Finnair’s mission is to enrich life by bridging the world. This is also the theme of our centenary. Moomins represent friendship, community and going on adventures together, so they are a great fit for our values,” says Finnair’s CEO Topi Manner. “Customers will be able to see the centenary in many ways throughout 2023, as we remember our heritage and look forward to the next 100 years.” 

 

“Finnair is one of Moomin’s major licensees and we’ve been working together since the 1990s. We’re very happy to see this collaboration extended with the new Moomin livery on Finnair aircraft,” says Roleff Kråkström, Managing Director of Moomin Characters Ltd. 

“Moomin is a character-brand grounded in the universal and timeless values of tolerance, acceptance and friendship upon which Nordic societies are built. These are the values that come to life in the Moomin embrace depicted in the Finnair 100 livery,” says Kråkström. 

 

Last time the Moomins were seen in Finnair aircraft livery was in the mid-1990s.The new centenary livery was taped by HAECO in Hong Kong.

 

In addition to the Moomin livery, Finnair Technical Operations in Helsinki have painted the centennary slogan “Bringing us together since 1923” on three other aircraft. The registration numbers of the aircraft are OH-LWR (A350), OH-LXM (A320) and OH-LXK (A320). 

 

Finnair now invites all Moomin and aviation fans to share photos and videos of the Moomin livery on Instagram with the hashtag #finnairmoomin. Finnair will reward one lucky content producer with two Business Class flights to either Tokyo or Helsinki. More information is available at www.finnair.com/finnair100. 

 

Finnair releases its annual report......

The Helsinki-based national carrier of Finland - Finnair has released its annual report for 2022 which tells how the airline's total revenue increased year-on-year as the COVID-19 impact was more significant in the comparison period. Unit revenue (RASK) increased by 8.6 per cent and amounted to 7.53 cents (6.93). The RASK increase was caused by the higher passenger yields and improved passenger load factor despite the higher number of cargo-only flights in the comparison period, as these flights do not generate any ASKs and, thus, have a positive RASK impact.

Passenger traffic 

Even though the passenger traffic figures continued to improve year-on-year, the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions was still clearly visible in the 2022 figures and especially in H1. Further, the Russian airspace closure had a negative impact on the figures in 2022. Passenger revenue increased by 306.5 per cent and traffic capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased by 158.8 per cent overall against the comparison period. 

The number of passengers increased by 218.9 per cent to 9,095,800 passengers. Traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) increased by 308.6 per cent and the passenger load factor (PLF) increased by 24.8 percentage points to 67.6 per cent. The distance-based reported traffic figures do not take into account longer routings caused by the airspace closure as they are based on the Great-Circle distance.

In Asian traffic, the number of scheduled passenger flights remained limited because of the pandemic impacts. Moreover, Finnair cancelled multiple flights to and from Asia in March following the Russian airspace closure even though it was able to continue operating most of the routes by using longer routings. The number of scheduled passenger flights was nevertheless clearly more than in the comparison period as in Q4 2021 travel opened to e.g., Thailand, Singapore and India, and as Finnair commenced flights from Sweden to Thailand which were, however, discontinued at the end of October 2022. Therefore, ASKs grew by 100.6 per cent and RPKs by as much as 484.1 per cent. PLF increased by 41.0 percentage points to 62.4 per cent. As PLF was still weak and capacity clearly lower than pre-pandemic, it resulted in low passenger revenue compared to 2019. Revenue overall was, however, supported by the strong cargo operations. 

This year, Finavia celebrates the major anniversaries of two of its airports. Ivalo and Oulu airports will celebrate their 80th and 70th anniversaries, respectively.

This year, Finavia celebrates the major anniversaries of two of its airports. Ivalo and Oulu airports will celebrate their 80th and 70th anniversaries, respectively.

“The airports of Oulu and Ivalo have served passengers and airlines for decades and have developed into important hubs for tourism and business. Both airports ensure good connections and accessibility for the area,” says Jonna Pietilä, Finavia’s VP Northern Finland airports.

Over the past ten years, Finavia has made significant investments in the development of both Ivalo and Oulu airports. The company has invested tens of millions of euros in improving the infrastructure and services at its airports.

Ivalo Airport – the northernmost airport in Finland

“Ivalo Airport is the northernmost airport in Finavia’s airport network and in all of Finland. The Christmas season is the busiest time of the year at our airport, as tourists from all over the world come to admire the magic of Lapland,” says Jarmo Pyhäjärvi, Finavia’s Airport Manager of Ivalo Airport.

Pyhäjärvi says that the 80th anniversary is an important milestone for the airport. Ivalo Airport was originally completed in 1943 but was destroyed in the Lapland War in 1945. After the war, the airport was rebuilt. The gold rush in Lapland in particular gave an impetus to the rebuilding of the airport.

“Over the years, we have extended Ivalo Airport several times to serve the growing number of passengers. In 2016, 1,000 square metres of extra space was added to the terminal, and in 2018, the apron was extended, which doubled the number of aircraft stands, among other things. The latest extension took place in 2019, when the arrivals hall was completed.”

Finnair Group issues financial statements for January – 31 December 2022

Finnair has released the following statements regarding its performance for the last quater and the whole year of 2022.

During October - December revenue increased by 66.2% to 687.3 million euros (413.5).  Comparable operating result was 17.9 million euros (-65.2). The operating result was 38.0 million euros (-60.2), exceptionally high fuel price had an adverse cost impact of c. 94 million euros** year-on-year.

Cash funds were 1,524.4 million euros (1 265.7) and the equity ratio was 9.9 per cent (11.8).

Net cash flow from operating activities was 29.9 million euros (124.6), and net cash flow from investing activities was -54.3 million euros (-66.8).***

The number of passengers increased by 60.9% to 2.5 million and the carrier managed to get a passenger load factor was 72.3%.

January – December 2022

Finnair to end in-flight and pre-order sales of gifts and goods......

The Helsinki-based Finnair has announced it will drop all in-flight and pre-order retail sales of goods at the end of the month.

From 28th February 2023 the airline will discontinue in-flight and pre-order retail sales of cosmetics, accessories, gifts and other retail products. Pre-ordered products can still be delivered to flights up to 18th April 2023. 

"Onboard and pre-order shopping has become a less important service among our customers”, says Valtteri Helve, Head of Product Offering at Finnair.  "Already in spring 2020, we announced that we discontinue in-flight sales on our flights within EU as part of our goal to reduce the overall weight of the aircraft, and now it is time to take the next step. Food and beverage sales on flights will continue, of course, and we will continue to develop our service."

Removing this service also paves the way for an easier move to outsource more cabin crew services to other companies as well as outsourcing the whole flight operations. The airline is struggling to return to profitability and is trying to stem losses by cutting costs before axing even more of the individual aspects that differentiate Finnair from any other European budget carrier. 

"Together with our partners, we have been able to offer a wide range of products, and many Finnish brands have also been well represented on our flights", says Tiina Tissari, Vice President of Customer Experience and Products at Finnair.

During the final phase and to dump stock, Finnair is offering a 40% discount on products onboard or pre-order items. In-flight shopping is available on our long-haul flights, and flights to the Canary Islands, Dubai, Egypt, Iceland, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. 

Finnair modifies Airbus A350s to increase passenger and cargo loads on longer routes

Finnair has modified ten of its flagship A350s to carry more customers and cargo as it continues to increase capacity across its Asian routes. Finnair has worked with aircraft manufacturer Airbus to increase the maximum take-off weight for a specially selected number of its aircraft as demand for flights to and from Asia has risen.

Finnair says the modifications made involve changes and updates to the aircraft’s software system, placards and manuals in cooperation with the planes maker Airbus. The aircraft software compensates for the centre of gravity change and maintains the same handling characteristics which allows for an increase in maximum take-off weight by around eight tonnes and that then enables Finnair to carry more customers and cargo on long-haul routes to Asia. 

With these modifications each aircraft can carry more customers and cargo, but also more importantly extra fuel to fly the longer flight times between Finland and South Korea and Japan that have resulted in the closure of Russian airspace to Finnair and other European and US carriers since the start of the war in Ukraine. Finnair hopes these changes will help it restore profitability to the routes and the airline as a whole.

Leena Niemi, Finnair Compliance Manager for Technical Operation, said: “Usually we do everything we can to make our aircraft lighter, but for our flights to Tokyo and Seoul we’ve increased their maximum take-off weight to fly around Russia and meet the demand for increased customers, cargo and kerosene. While making the modifications, the safety and security of our aircraft and customers remained our number one priority.”

“In addition, the weight and balance data for the modified aircraft have been updated, the noise certificates of the aircraft have been renewed, and the aircraft maintenance program and life limits of the main landing gear parts have been updated.”

More service cuts at Finnair.......airline dropping in-flight and pre-order retail sales......

The Helsinki-based Finnair has announced it will drop all in-flight and pre-order retail sales of goods at the end of the month.

From 28th February 2023 the airline will discontinue in-flight and pre-order retail sales of cosmetics, accessories, gifts and other retail products. Pre-ordered products can still be delivered to flights up to 18th April 2023. 

"Onboard and pre-order shopping has become a less important service among our customers”, says Valtteri Helve, Head of Product Offering at Finnair.  "Already in spring 2020, we announced that we discontinue in-flight sales on our flights within EU as part of our goal to reduce the overall weight of the aircraft, and now it is time to take the next step. Food and beverage sales on flights will continue, of course, and we will continue to develop our service."

Removing this service also paves the way for an easier move to outsource more cabin crew services to other companies as well as outsourcing the whole flight operations. The airline is struggling to return to profitability and is trying to stem losses by cutting costs before axing even more of the individual aspects that differentiate Finnair from any other European budget carrier. 

"Together with our partners, we have been able to offer a wide range of products, and many Finnish brands have also been well represented on our flights", says Tiina Tissari, Vice President of Customer Experience and Products at Finnair.

During the final phase and to dump stock, Finnair is offering a 40% discount on products onboard or pre-order items. In-flight shopping is available on our long-haul flights, and flights to the Canary Islands, Dubai, Egypt, Iceland, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. 

New incentive plans from Finnair

Finnair's Board of Directors has approved Finnair's long-term incentive plans as part of its strategy to restore the troubled airline to profitability and increase performance.  

The cash-based Staff incentive plan 2023–2025 covers all those personnel groups who have contributed with savings agreements in the reduction of the company's unit costs, which is one of the key actions of the strategy. The other incentive plan is share-based, and its participants include the Finnair Executive Board as well as other management and experts.

“The restoration of Finnair's profitability after two significant successive external crises has, thanks to the entire Finnair team, got off to a good start, as demonstrated by the company's third quarter 2022 results. We want to support the journey towards profitability, profit improvement and value creation with long-term programmes that have a common improvement metric and clearly increase shareholder value”, says Jouko Karvinen, Chairman of the Finnair Board of Directors. 

Finnair moving towards more fluid pricing

Finnair will be moving away from a structured pricing system to a more fluid yield enhancing method via its own channels  Finnair.com and Finnair mobile App as well as NDC-enabled channels for agent partners. 

This means there wont be a price jump between different fare classes and type as is the current standard, but more fluidity and can change minute by minute depending on demand and current yield and loads. This, the airline hopes will help it make more money per ticket sold that is currently the case. In addition, the carrier is limiting its domestic offering to its own channels from May onwards. 

“We are committed to transforming how flight products are sold and serviced, for the benefit of our customers and the whole industry,”, says Jenni Suomela, Vice President, Global Sales and Channel Management, Finnair. “We encourage our B2B partners to join on this journey, to make the benefits available for all of our customers, and are ready to support and help our partners in this transformation.” 

The Helsinki based carrier is rapidly changing from a national legacy flag carrier to an outsourced low-cost carrier with various moves that will see its reputation and marketshare decrease. 

Finnair's new destinations include Ljubljana, Bodø and Milan Linate Airport for summer 2023.

New destinations include Ljubljana, Bodø and Milan Linate Airport

The Helsinki-based Finnair is updating its traffic programme for short-haul flights in the summer season of 2023 and has confirmed it will fly to more than 50 destinations in Europe. The carrier which is part way through a cost-cutting efficiencies programme has added frequencies to several European capitals, such as Berlin, Copenhagen, Vilnius and Riga.  

Bodø is a new destination for Finnair, with three weekly flights during the high season, and summer 2023 will also see Ljubljana coming back as a destination. In addition, Finnair will start flying to the conveniently located Linate Airport in Milan, in addition to flying to Milan’s Malpensa Airport.  

"Travel has recovered at a good pace and we are increasing flights to European routes to meet the increased demand in Asia. For example, the Bergen and Bodø routes are seamlessly connected to our flights to Japan," says Ole Orvér, Finnair's Chief Commercial Officer.  

Finnair flies to most European capitals at least twice a day, which also serves business travellers well. Also included are the popular vacation destinations, such as Rhodes and Alicante. 

Finnair’s European flights connect smoothly to our long-haul destinations Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Soul, Singapore, Bangkok, Delhi, Mumbai and Doha. Finnair’s US offering comprises flights to Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.  

The completely renewed Helsinki Airport hub offers Finnair customers a fast and smooth transfer experience.  

Finnair's December 2022 performance.

In December, Finnair carried 832,900 passengers, which was 38.2% more than in December 2021 and 10.9% more than in November 2022. Month-on-month figures are, however, not fully comparable as there was one day less in November.

The COVID-19 impact, including the strict travel restrictions imposed by some countries, still affected passenger traffic figures, and it was particularly visible in the Asian figures. The Russian airspace closed at the end of February due to the counter sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. Thanks to robust demand for cargo, Finnair, however, continued operating to most of its Asian destinations despite the longer routings. The negative impact of the airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures, which were already affected by the pandemic, was, nevertheless, visible in December. The distance-based reported traffic figures do not take into account longer routings caused by the airspace closure as they are based on Great-Circle distance.

Finnair’s cooperation with Qatar Airways began on 1 November as daily flights from Copenhagen and Stockholm to Doha were commenced. Daily Helsinki – Doha flights were started in mid-December. Related traffic figures are reported by Finnair and those are currently visible in the European figures. Starting from January 2023 traffic performance release, a new traffic area Middle East will be introduced and these flights as well as flights to Dubai and Israel will be transferred into the new traffic area.

The overall capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased in December by 13.4% year-on-year and by 15.1% month-on-month. Finnair operated, on average, 263 daily flights (cargo-only included), which was 14.3% more than in December 2021 and 4.8% more than in November 2022. Finnair's traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 51.4% year-on-year and by 17.2% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 18.3% points year-on-year and by 1.3% points month-on-month to 72.7%.

Finnair adds flights between Helsinki and Asia for summer 2023 in response to demand

Finnair adds flights between Helsinki and Asia for summer 2023 in response to demand

Finnair adds flights between its Helsinki hub and key destinations in Asia for summer 2023. Finnair resumes flights between Helsinki and Osaka with three weekly flights and adds frequencies to Tokyo Narita Airport. Finnair also adds frequencies to Hong Kong and Delhi, operating daily to both of these cities during the 2023 summer season.  

The Helsinki–Osaka route is operated on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and Osaka–Helsinki on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays as of 26 March. Helsinki–Tokyo Narita flights are operated on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and Tokyo Narita–Helsinki on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays as of 27 March. Finnair also flies to Tokyo Haneda airport daily during the summer season.  

“We are happy to be able to respond to the increasing travel demand between Europe and key Asian destinations. In summer 2023, we will be operating altogether 14 weekly connections between Finland and Japan, and we have daily connections to Delhi and Hong Kong,” says Ole Orvér, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair. “The Helsinki Airport with its spacious new facilities offers an excellent experience both for customers visiting Finland and for those who continue onwards to one of our many European destinations.”   

Finnair flight schedules connect smoothly to Finnair’s vast network in Europe. Finnair’s flights between Helsinki and Japan are operated in codeshare with Finnair’s long-term partners Japan Airlines and British Airways, offering more choice and flexibility for customers travelling between Europe and Japan.  All the flights can be booked at Finnair.com or with travel agents.   

Finnair gets loan extension

Finnair announced in its Stock Exchange Release on 20 May 2020 that the Finnish Government has approved that the State of Finland guarantees Finnair’s pension premium loan up to 540 million euros. With the state guarantee and the following pension premium loan, Finnair aimed to further secure its cash position and business continuity also after the exceptional situation caused by the corona crisis. Further, a commercial bank guaranteed up to 60 million euros of the loan. The arrangement was compliant with the EU state aid regulations and was approved by the European Commission on 18 May 2020.

Finnair drew down the 600-million-euro pension premium loan in three tranches in 2020 and based on the agreed schedule, the loan was planned to be repaid in two 300-million-euro tranches in December 2022 and in June 2023.

The EU Commission’s competition authority approved the extension of the 540-million-euro guarantee related to the pension premium loan on 20 June 2022. To maintain its cash funds in the prevailing uncertain operating environment, the company has agreed with other parties to extend the guarantees and the loan. The loan maturity is extended until 2025 and the repayment schedule is amended so that the company will amortise the loan by 100 million euros every 6 months. However, the remaining two 100-million-euro tranches will be paid in full on 15 May 2025. As opposed to the previous schedule, the loan will not be amortised in December 2022.

Finnair strikes back and staff following industrial action with another 150 jobs axed.

Photo Finnair

The financially troubled national carrier of Finland has hit back at staff who have caused a last-minute strike by announcing 150 more jobs will be axed.

The airline says the job losses are because of the impacts of the closure of Russian airspace, although some can continue to be employed if they take on a new role. Finnair says it will offer career coaching and training opportunities for those that seek to be redeployed. 

Due to the dramatic changes in Finnair’s operating environment caused by the closure of Russian airspace, Finnair now reduces approximately 90 jobs in Finland. Some employees can be offered a new role at Finnair. Outside Finland, 57 jobs will be reduced.  The personnel reductions will be implemented by the end of February 2023. Finnair continues its determined actions to restore its profitability, for example through decreasing unit costs and strengthening unit revenues.

"Finnair employees are committed professionals, who in many ways have already had to stretch, first during the pandemic, and then because of the war started by Russia. I’m deeply sorry that we must take these difficult but necessary measures in our quest to restore our profitability," says Topi Manner, Finnair CEO.

The change negotiations concern some 770 employees in Finland who work in executive, manager and expert roles. Finnair has a total of approximately 5300 employees globally.

Finnair cancels approximately 100 flights on 20-21 November due to cabin crew strike

The Helsinki-based Finnair has had to cancel altogether approximately 100 flights leaving its home base today and tomorrow after The Finnish Transport Workers' Union AKT has announced a strike regarding Finnair's cabin crew in Helsinki between Sunday 20th Nov at 3 p.m. EET and Monday 21st Nov at 3 p.m.  

The job of cancelling the flights, rebooking or rerouting customers' reservations began on Saturday and work continues today, mainly by outsourced staff and via the 'Manage Booking' section on Finnair's website.  

The carrier says that fights operated by Norra will continue as scheduled as will flights where Finnair has already outsourced cabin and flight crew services to other companies.  

"We are deeply sorry for the concern and inconvenience this strike is causing our customers, and do our best to reroute our customers as soon as possible," says Jaakko Schildt, Finnair's Chief Operating Officer.   "It is sad that the labour union has chosen the path of an illegal strike instead of negotiations. Throughout the autumn we have discussed savings possibilities with the unions, but unfortunately, we have not been able to achieve a result with the cabin crew. We still hope to find solutions together," says Schildt.  

The financially troubled national carrier has already told staff of the costs its needs to cut and savings that have to be made in order to return the carrier to profitability and secure its long-term future. Many of the savings the carrier wants to make effect cabin crew including: pay cuts, much higher crew utilisation, downgrading of layover hotels, no meals, additional pay-per-hour rules for long flights and axing employee discounts.  The airline said that as no agreement was found with its cabin crew, it is now looking to axe dozens and dozens of cabin crew and subcontract or outsource even more of its long-haul routes. 

There have been many of Finnair's staff who have taken to social media or messaging groups to tell their fears and beliefs that this is just the next step on a journey of turning Finnair into a virtual carrier with almost all services, other than aircraft and management outsourced to other companies.  

Finnair set to subcontract out inflight service on more long-haul routes

The Helsinki-based Finnair is no stranger to outsourcing or subcontracting and is about to start change negotiations with its cabin crew in Finland to discuss its plans to subcontract inflight service on routes to/from Thailand and the US to partners.

Possible subcontracting would be implemented by the end of 2023. The plan is a part of the efforts to restore Finnair’s profitability by reducing unit costs and strengthening unit revenues. Finnair made considerable losses during the covid-19 pandemic, and the closure of Russian airspace significantly impacts Finnair’s ability to generate profit.

Finnair’s primary target has been to find solutions for decreasing unit costs together with its employees. During this autumn, Finnair has discussed with all its employees about possibility to achieve savings by changing employment terms. For cabin crew, Finnair proposed changes for example to crew utilization efficiency, layover hotel rules and to additional pay-per-hour rules for long flights, as the closure of Russian airspace has made the flight times to Asia considerably longer. A negotiation result was reached with some employee groups, but unfortunately, a solution was not found with the cabin crew in Finland. In this situation, Finnair must seek savings through alternative measures.

If realized, the subcontracting plan could result in reducing up to 450 jobs in Finnair’s Inflight services. Finnair currently employs approximately 1750 cabin crew members in Finland. The cabin service for Finnair’s Singapore, Hong Kong and India routes as well as for the Doha routes from Stockholm and Copenhagen is provided by Finnair’s partners already.

“Our target continues to be to find a savings solution together with our cabin crew. We now need a genuine will from the negotiators to find solutions that would allow us to continue inflight service with our own crew, and avoid redundancies. Discussion on alternative solutions is a vitally important part of the change negotiations process”, says Topi Manner, Finnair CEO.

The change negotiations will start on November 23 and are estimated to last at least six weeks. A social support program to help those who could lose their work in re-employment will be discussed in the negotiations.

Finnair's latest results.....

Clear improvement in most passenger traffic figures year-on-year in October, slight decline month-on-month; cargo performance still strong

Photo Finnair

In October, Finnair carried 866,900 passengers, which was 100.1% more than in October 2021. The number of passengers in October 2022 was 2.6% less than in September 2022 (month-on-month figures are not fully comparable as there was one day less in September).

The COVID-19 impact, including the strict travel restrictions imposed by some countries, still affected passenger traffic figures, and it was particularly visible in the Asian figures. The Russian airspace closed at the end of February due to the counter-sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, which resulted in route and frequency cancellations in Asian traffic. Thanks to robust demand for cargo, Finnair, however, continued operating to most of its Asian destinations despite the longer routings. The negative impact of the airspace closure on Asian passenger traffic figures, which were already affected by the pandemic, was, nevertheless, visible in October. The distance-based reported traffic figures do not take into account longer routings caused by the airspace closure as they are based on Great-Circle distance.

The overall capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), increased in October by 71.2% year-on-year and by 3.6% month-on-month. Finnair operated, on average, 264 daily flights (cargo-only included), which was 52.6% more than in October 2021 but 1.5% less than in September 2022. The differences between capacity figures compared to October 2021 are explained by the longer average stage length of flights operated and by the larger gauge of aircraft operated. Finnair's traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), increased by 166.9% year-on-year but decreased by 0.6% month-on-month. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) increased by 26.1% points year-on-year but decreased by 3.0% points month-on-month to 72.6%.

The ASK increase in Asian traffic was 53.9% year-on-year. The North Atlantic capacity increased by 60.8%. In European traffic, the ASKs were up by 89.7%. The ASKs in domestic traffic increased by 49.6%.

RPKs increased in Asian traffic by 549.7%, in North Atlantic traffic by 521.1%, in European traffic by 86.1% and in domestic traffic by 49.1% year-on-year.

Finnair's latest results show revenue up 260.6%

Photo Finnair

The Helsink-based European airline Finnair has just released its latest results which show the carrier has seen revenues increase by more than 260% during the last three months up to the end of September.  The airline has continued to experience the disruption caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the closure of airspace. However the effects of the pandemic on Finnair’s operations have partially eased, the airline predicts the full 2022 comparable operating result will be significantly negative for a third consecutive year due to the impacts of the Ukrainian war. Further, Finnair estimates that the difficult operating environment, inclusive of the closed Russian airspace, will prevail for a longer period and, therefore, the company is preparing a new strategy to improve its weak profitability and to strengthen its financial position. 

CE­O Topi Manner said: "In the third quarter, Finnair’s net result was negative, but our comparable operating result turned positive for the first time since the last quarter of 2019. A positive operating result in the seasonally strongest third quarter is a step to the right direction, but we have a long journey ahead of us to nurse the company back to health. Due to the combination of the heavy pandemic and the closure of Russian airspace, we are facing a uniquely difficult challenge. Thus, determined measures to implement our new strategy and to restore profitability at an annual level are vital.

During the summer, Finnair carried 2.8 million passengers, as the demand, which had been pent up during the pandemic, continued to materialise. Finnair’s revenue rose to 719.2 million euros (199.4), supported by the good development in unit revenues. Our comparable operating result was 35.2 million euros (-109.1) as our actions to reduce costs, improve sales and optimise revenues started to become visible. Nonetheless, the result for the period was still negative, -37.2 million euros, due to high financial expenses resulting from heavy indebtedness and exchange losses caused by the strong dollar.