He believes that the airline's measures to reduce costs, improve sales and optimise revenues are a result of the development. The result was 37.2 million euro in the red for the period 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 get back to health after a positive result in 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 nearly doubled from 41.6 per cent in 2021 to 80.1 per cent in 2022, as seat kilometres increased by almost 155 per cent from roughly 3.29 billion to 8.36 billion.
The airline estimated in the last quarter of the year that it will operate an average capacity of around 70 per cent of its capacity in the last quarter of 2019.
Finnair unveiled a new strategy in September in response to the extended flight times and operating costs of its strategic cornerstone, traffic to and from Asia. It said the purpose 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 strategy implementation will proceed at a pace in each 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.