Aviation|On Thursday, Finnair’s management presented the company’s strategy for the next four years.
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Finnair plans to order new narrow-body aircraft worth hundreds of millions of euros and develop its Plus loyalty system.
The company will invest 2-2.5 billion euros in four years, most of which will go to the renewal of narrow-body machines.
CEO Turkka Kuusisto presented the strategy for the years 2026-2029, with which the company aims to recover from the corona crisis and the closure of Russian airspace.
Carrier Finnair plans to order new narrow-body aircraft worth hundreds of millions of euros and develop its Plus loyalty system over the next few years.
The company said in connection with the capital market day organized on Thursday that it is negotiating with aircraft and engine manufacturers about the partial renewal of its narrow body aircraft fleet. In addition, the company is considering increasing its capacity of smaller aircraft with used planes in the short term.
In total, the company said it would invest 2–2.5 billion euros over four years. Most of the amount would go to the renewal of the narrow-body aircraft used especially on short-haul flights. The total number of machines would increase by 10–20 percent.
Finnair managing director Fur Kuusisto and the rest of the company’s management presented the company’s strategy for the years 2026–2029 at Thursday’s investor event. With the help of the new strategy, Finnair intends to steer itself away from the double crisis that has plagued the company for five years.
In the 2020s, Finnair has suffered first from the corona crisis and then from the closure of Russian airspace. Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the subsequent aviation bans ruined the company’s strategy to benefit from fast routes through Russia to Asia.
At the beginning of the year, Finnair announced in connection with its earnings announcement that the company has started a long-delayed project to renew its narrowbody fleet.
Finnair and its associate company Norra have a total of around 80 aircraft, thirty of which are narrow-body aircraft. The average age of the fifteen narrow-body aircraft has already stretched to more than 20 years.
Finnair’s Airbus A319 aircraft landed at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in 2016. The model is one of Finnair’s oldest.
Finnair predicts that the markets in its operating areas will grow by approximately four percent per year during the strategy period starting next year.
“We will get a fair share of this growth,” Kuusisto said at the investor conference.
Finnair is renewing its fleet because it will fly more European routes than before in the next four years. The company expects that Russian airspace will remain closed at least until the end of 2029.
The company said on Thursday that it will open 12 new destinations from Finland to Europe next summer and will start direct flights from three European cities to Lapland in the winter.
“Concrete proof that our plan is already underway,” Kuusisto said.
Finnair is also planning to develop its quite popular loyalty program. The company plans to use the program to generate additional revenue outside of air travel.
“I see the program as an opportunity to find and develop sources of income that are not necessarily related to flights. The customer could earn and use loyalty points even if the next flight is six months from now. There are several opportunities to expand the ecosystem,” said Kuusisto.
Finnair plans to expand the loyalty program to new partners, such as banking services and retail stores.
“Fortunately, this is something that you don’t have to invent yourself, because there are many examples in the world. We are proud to copy,” said Kuusisto.
Finnair the loyalty program includes approximately five million members, of which 2.4 million are so-called active. The company plans to increase the number of active members to over three million.
A member who has flown with Finnair or otherwise used their card in the last year and a half is considered active.