Airlines India, Indian Airlines

Finnair said it will take on 600 new flight attendants and pilots by Autumn 2007 to support increased traffic to Asia.

Some 200 of these positions are expected to be filled by existing temporary employees being given permanent roles, Finnair said on the Finnish pages of its website.

Finnair has been cutting jobs in support operations, freeing up resources to expand cabin staff, particularly for Asian routes where it is adding new capacity.

Its Asian traffic grew by 23 pct year-on-year during April-June.

Finnair said its passenger load factor in July grew by 5.1 pct points year-on-year to 80.5 pct, helped largely by improved load factors in European and Asian scheduled flights.

In all, some 633,500 passengers were transported by group airlines during the month, the carrier said in its periodic update on traffic performance.

Its Stockholm-based operation FlyNordic saw passenger numbers rise 18.4 pct to 116,390.

Meanwhile, its Baltic unit Aero AS — which operates from its base in Tallinn, Estonia — saw numbers increase 14.8 pct to 53,900.

Finnair has announced it is to launch a series of new European connections from spring 2007.

The carrier is to begin flying a scheduled service, four days a week, between Helsinki and the Romanian capital city of Bucharest from April 10th next year.

Bucharest is the third European destination to be added to the airline’s new schedule, following the announcement of flights to Lisbon and Ljubljana, which will also be commencing in spring 2007.

Romania is currently preparing to join the European Union next year.

Christer Haglund, of Finnair SVP Corporate Communications, said: “Both business and leisure travel between Finland and Romania has been increasing significantly and will continue to grow as the country joins the EU.

“The flights also support Finnair’s Asian strategy by offering efficient connections from Bucharest via Helsinki to all our Asian destinations.”

Finnair also recently announced that its turnover for the second quarter of this year was up 5.4 per cent on the previous year’s, with passenger traffic demand up nearly seven per cent.

Finnish flag carrier Finnair on Tuesday reported a loss for the first half the year. The result after financial items was a loss of 1.9 million euros, down from a profit of 54 million euros in the year-ago period.

Finnair Group’s net sales increased by 60 million euros to a total of over 970 million euros in the January-June period.

According to Jukka Hienonen, chief executive, the group’s result was weakened by intense competition in air traffic, the increase in the price of oil and non-recurring costs from structural changes within the group.

The low level of ticket prices as well as restructuring costs weighed on Finnair’s result in April-June. The second quarter result, however, raised the operating result for the first half of the year into profit. The result for the entire year is still expected to be in the profit, but below the previous year’s level.

Finnair is rapidly growing in strength as a player in traffic between Asia and Europe and this is reflected as a structural change in our operations. The costs arising from this are recognised in the second quarter result. As a consequence of a strong order book, a modern fleet and the structural changes under way, I believe that Finnair has a good basis for improving profitability in future,” says Finnair’s President and CEO Jukka Hienonen.

Second quarter turnover grew from the previous year by 5.4 per cent to 494.6 million euros.

Profit before taxes was 3.3 million euros. The operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, was 18.2 million. Passenger traffic demand grew by nearly seven per cent. Passenger load factor rose by more than five percentage points from the previous year to 75.5 per cent.

Growth is still continuing. The market situation is characterised, however, by a battle for market shares, which reduced the average price of flight tickets in Finnair’s scheduled traffic by nearly five per cent in the second quarter.

- Competition has continued to be intense. Two competitors have withdrawn from the market in the wake of losses. We will maintain our customer relationships through a developing route network and a desirable product. It is gratifying to note the record high passenger load factor of our aircraft and the continuing strong growth in demand, which also provide grounds for improving the level of prices in future,” states Hienonen.

Finnair’s operating costs rose during the period by 12.0 per cent. Unit costs of flight operations rose by 6.5 per cent. Unit costs, excluding fuel costs, rose by 1.4 per cent.

- As the price of oil has increased, costs have risen strongly and this is also reflected in Finnair’s result. Accordingly, we are now focusing on improving our cost-efficiency.”

In May statutory employer-employee negotiations were initiated with the aim of reducing personnel numbers by around 670, mainly in support functions, by the end of 2007. The negotiations were for the most part concluded at the end of June. Employer-employee negotiations are still continuing in the subsidiaries. In addition, negotiations are under way in the Flight Operations Group to achieve productivity improvements and reduce operating costs. To date, more than half of the announced 80 million euro annual savings target has been identified.

Finnair is one of the most significant airlines flying from Europe to Asia. The capacity of Finnair’s Asian traffic will grow by 30 per cent in the latter part of the year.

- This year we have added two aircraft on long–haul routes and have recruited more personnel for flight operations. Demand for our Asian traffic continues to be strong, with a good price level, and our market share is still increasing. Around one million passengers will travel on Finnair’s Asian flights this year,“ says Hienonen.