By IANS
New Delhi : Finnair, flag carrier of Finland, has earned 140 million euros (about $200 million) as profit before tax. The airline, which offers the shortest travel time to Europe from Indian destinations, has increased its turnover by ten percent in comparison to last year.
Impressed by the airline’s performance, Finnair’s president and CEO Jukka Hienonen said in a press statement Tuesday that the airline would invest nearly 700 million euros in new long-haul aircraft this year and the next.
“Asian traffic growth will continue this year, when two new Airbus A340 long-haul aircraft join our fleet. A new destination, Seoul in South Korea, will open in June,” informed the airline’s CEO. The airline is working out plans for expansion of its destinations and slots in India.
The Finnair statement said that in the future it would focus on better operations of its fleet. “We will seek to maintain our place among the Europe’s most punctual network carriers,” said Jukka.
The airline’s operational cost, however, rose from the previous year’s 11 million euros to 97 million euros. In addition, non-recurring capital gains totalled 30 million euros, including the sale of the Fly Nordic subsidiary.
“During 2006 we laid a solid foundation for the improvement of profitability and the price for this was evident in the result. We entered 2007 in good shape and profitability improved in every quarter. We need strong cash flow for future acquisitions,” said Jukka Hienonen.
Last year, Finnair carried nearly nine million passengers. Passenger traffic overall grew by 13 percent. Asian traffic grew by over 30 percent. The passenger load factor overall was 76 percent, while on Asian flights it was slightly higher.
While the passenger traffic unit revenue per passenger kilometre fell by two percent, the Asian traffic rose slightly. “We filled our aircraft with passengers and cargo. Load factors were at record highs, even though we increased capacity considerably,” he said.
On the other hand, the Finnish carrier is stepping up its frequency to Mumbai and has asked its government to request additional destinations and slots in India to tap the growing international air traffic from the country.
Starting April this year, the flag carrier of the Nordic nation is enhancing its frequency from Mumbai to six flights per week from the present five and also changing the schedule to accommodate weekend travellers.