Finnair plans to grow total capacity by more than 10% in 2024, with a focus on increasing frequencies to existing destinations in Europe and Asia, rather than opening new routes.
The capacity expansion will be boosted by the return of four Airbus A320 aircraft that have been wet-leased to Oneworld alliance partner British Airways, but will be restored to the Helsinki-based carrier’s fleet in the spring.
“In the current environment, it makes sense for us to utilize our assets more efficiently and through that grow capacity,” CFO Kristian Pullola told analysts following the publication of Finnair’s annual financial results, which saw the airline swing to a full-year operating profit of €184 million ($197 million) in 2023, compared with a loss of almost €164 million during the previous 12 months.
“We will of course monitor the situation and if there are uncertainties in the demand environment, we can always course-correct when it comes to the actual capacity we end up flying,” Pullola added.
Interim CEO Jaakko Schildt said he was confident about the airline’s planned capacity growth, adding that passenger demand has been “very, very strong” since 2022. This is giving the carrier confidence to increase frequencies across its network.
Analysis of data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows that capacity to Stockholm Arlanda Airport will rise by about 38% during the forthcoming summer 2024 season, compared with the same travel period in 2023. Berlin, Copenhagen, Munich, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Prague and Tallinn, Estonia, are among the European cities that will also see double-digit capacity gains from Helsinki.
In Japan, Finnair will increase its flight frequencies to Osaka Kansai International Airport from three to five flights per week compared to the summer 2023 schedule, while service to Tokyo Narita International Airport will rise from four to six weekly flights. These additions complement the existing daily service to Tokyo Haneda International Airport. Additionally, Finnair will return to Nagoya from May 30 after a hiatus of four years. Flights will be offered twice a week.
“We’re looking at markets where it makes sense to increase frequencies,” Schildt said. “We’re not talking about additional destinations—it’s more going from two flights per week to five, or five per week to daily.”
Finnair, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in November, had built its business model around connecting Europe and Asia, capitalizing on its advantageous geographic location in Helsinki and the shorter northern route over Russia. This has since been significantly affected due to the closure of Russian airspace following the invasion of Ukraine.
“Asia is perhaps the last place where we’re still seeing some impact from COVID as the travel patterns haven’t normalized,” Schildt said. Although capacity to Japan this summer will be up by about 32% year-on-year, equivalent to around 62% of 2019 levels, the airline’s mainland China network will remain substantially smaller. Finnair served seven Chinese destinations in 2019, but now flies just twice a week to Shanghai.
“There is no level playing field between Western and Chinese companies because Chinese [carriers] can still operate over Russian airspace,” Schildt added. Although he refused to be drawn on whether Chinese airlines should be prevented from adding capacity to Europe, Schildt said that Finnair was open to resuming more flights to China if the routes could be profitable.
Overall, Finnair reported revenues of €2.99 billion for 2023, up by 26.8% on 2022, as the number of passengers carried increased by nearly 21% to 11 million. However, the company said that revenues would grow at a slower pace than capacity this year.
During 2023, the airline carried out a €570 million rights issue that was partly used to repay the remaining tranche of a €400 million capital loan granted by the state of Finland. It also wet-leased two A330s to Qantas for operations between Australia and Southeast Asia and purchased nine previously leased narrowbodies.
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