Finnair reports sharp downturn in H1 results

National flag carrier Finnair registered a sharp decline in both its revenue and operating profit in the first half of 2021, reported Xinhua, quoting a press release issued by the airline on Thursday.

Between January and June this year, Finnair's net sales dropped by 64.2 percent to 225.4 million euros from 629.8 million euros in the corresponding period of 2020. Its comparable operating result was a loss of 294.5 million euros.

However, in the second quarter of 2021, the airline's revenue increased by 63 percent to 111.8 million euros year-on-year. The number of passengers almost tripled, rising by about 198 percent to 0.3 million.

The comparable operating result in April-June this year was a loss of 151.3 million euros, compared to a loss of 174.3 million euros in the same period of 2020.

Finnair's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Topi Manner explained in the press release that the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions continued to heavily impact the airline's passenger numbers, revenues and profit during the second quarter of 2021.

However, cargo demand remained strong due to the delivery chain challenges caused by the pandemic. Cargo continued to account for over half of Finnair's revenue in the first half of this year, noted Manner.

Even though the COVID-19 travel restrictions have been lifted slower than Finnair had expected, many countries, including Finland, have now reopened to travel and entry requirements are becoming more harmonised, the CEO said.

"We believe demand will increase gradually during the autumn especially in Europe and north America," Manner said, adding that vaccination coverage is now increasing at a good pace around the world, but travel recovery continues to depend on the pandemic situation, including virus variants and the related travel restrictions.

Although Finnair estimates that demand will gradually grow in the autumn, it will take at least until 2023 for traffic volumes to return to pre-pandemic levels, Manner said.

Finnair will continue to operate a limited network and will serve about 70 destinations this autumn and winter. The number of flights will increase as demand grows, according to the airline.

Earlier this month, Finnair announced its intention to launch new long-haul flights from Stockholm, Sweden, to Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand as well as to Miami in the United States in the 2021-2022 winter season.