Asian Traffic Drives Record Q3 2010 for Finnair

Finnair's operational profit for Q3 2010 was 42 million euros. The corresponding figure for the previous year was a loss of 33 million euros. Turnover grew by 26% to 551 million euros.

“The third quarter was the first profitable quarter after seven successive loss-making quarters. The market situation has been clearly better than at the beginning of the year, which is evident in increasing demand and a sharp strengthening of unit revenues,” said Finnair's President & CEO Mika Vehviläinen.

Unit revenues in Finnair's scheduled traffic improved by 23.5% from the previous year. The key factor was growth in business travel demand in traffic between Europe and Asia. Next year, Asian traffic capacity will grow by more than 20%.

“Our market share in traffic between Asia and Europe is continually strengthening. We are committed to continuing our strong growth in Asia-Europe traffic and will take advantage of strengthening demand in the market. In August, our sales in Japan exceeded sales in Finland for the first time,” Vehviläinen added.

Unit revenues rose least in domestic traffic, which accounts for 3% of Finnair's passenger traffic. Europe-Asia traffic revenues account for 65% of Finnair's  scheduled passenger and cargo revenues.

In the first nine months of the year, Finnair carried a total of 5.5 million  passengers on scheduled and leisure flights. The amount of cargo carried rose 38% due to higher cargo demand in Asia and to cargo aircraft traffic initiated in May.

Unit costs fell by around 4%, mainly due to substantial efficiency measures, while the number of personnel was 15% lower than the previous year.

“The perceived profit trend is encouraging, but long-term success requires constant work to improve cost-competitiveness. In addition to cost discipline, improving profitability also requires the correct management of capacity and pricing,” explained Vehviläinen.

The final quarter result is expected to be in profit. Owing to seasonality of demand and sales, however, it will fall significantly short of the third quarter in terms of profitability. Also the full year result is predicted to be in black figures.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Interviews, Free Deals, Videos, Finnair, Q3, Helsinki