He believes that the airline's measures to reduce costs, improve sales and optimise revenues are a result of the development. The result for the period was 37.2 million euro in the red due to factors such as record high jet fuel prices, unfavourable exchange rates, the closure of Russian airspace and the lingering effects of the coronaviruses, as well as the travel restrictions in China.
Manner estimated that he and his colleagues have a long journey ahead of themselves to bring the company back to health after a positive result in what is the busiest quarter.
Finnair reported that the number of passengers it carried increased by over 255 per cent to 2.8 million in the third quarter of the year. Its passenger load factor doubled from 41.6 per cent in 2021 to 80.1 per cent in 2022, as it increased by nearly 155 per cent from roughly 3.29 billion to 8.36 billion seats available.
The airline estimated that in the last quarter of the year it will operate an average capacity of around 70 per cent of its capacity, based on available seat kilometres.
In September of this year, Finnair unveiled its new strategy in response to the extended flight times and operating costs of its strategic cornerstone, traffic to and from Asia. It said the objective of the strategic re-think is to balance its flight network and trim its fleet slash unit costs by 15 per cent compared to 2019 and restore its earnings to at least five per cent by mid- 2024.
Manner said on Friday that the implementation of the strategy will proceed at a pace in every area and needs input from all stakeholders.
Finnair has reduced its costs by around 200 million euro over the past 30 or so months. It announced earlier this autumn that it would initiate consultative negotiations that could lead to the termination of 200 jobs worldwide, including 120 in Finland.