Finnair’s CEO Pekka Vauramo announced plans to cut costs by €20 million, as the company faces “an environment of elevated market uncertainty.” The news came shortly after the carrier released it second-quarter results, showing that cargo revenue fell 5.6 percent to €42.6 million, compared with the same quarter in 2015.
Vauramo explained to Bloomberg that a delay of A350s on order and the current heightened security climate following recent airport attacks and political unrest in Europe, were depressing the carrier’s outlook. “We have delays of one to two months on the A350, primarily because of cabin seats and some other cabin elements,” Vauramo said. Finnair has ordered 19 of the jets with five already in service. However, he “wouldn’t forecast any long-term impact.”
Vauramo conceded that some of the latest security “incidents” had renewed concerns but he stressed that they too were temporary considerations.
While cargo revenues were down, cargo volume was up by 15.9 percent, year-over-year, in July, and the cargo load factor for the month was 59 percent, up 2.7 percent, y-o-y. For the first seven months, Finnair’s cargo volumes were up 14.9 percent to 83,925 tonnes carried. RTKs over the same time period were up 15 percent, to 505.1 million.
The Finnish flag carrier has added routes to Asia as part of its growth strategy. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) this month granted an extension of the antitrust immunity to include Iberia in the joint business between Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair, allowing the four airlines to cooperate commercially on flights between Europe and Japan.