Finnair Cargo is preparing to carry COVID-19 vaccines. Several pharmaceutical companies have stated they are in the latter stages of testing a vaccine for Covid-19, suggesting it is time to start planning the supply chain. It is anticipated that air cargo will be one of the main forms of transportation.

Finnair Cargo was the first airline in the world to receive IATA’s CEIV Pharma certificate in 2015.

For the logistics chain, there is not yet publicly available information on the exact requirements for transporting vaccines.

Finnair Cargo has partnered with all major active container manufacturers to further ensure the safe transportation of the vaccines.

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair has completed the co-operation process started in September on its plans to reduce up to 1,000 jobs, to make other structural changes and to implement additional temporary layoffs due to the impacts of the corona pandemic. Due to the dramatic market changes caused by the pandemic, Finnair cuts approximately 600 jobs in Finland. The redundancies will be implemented by the end of March 2021. The co-operation process concerned all Finnair employees in Finland except for cabin and cockpit crew, altogether 2.800 employees.

Similar discussions have been held outside Finland, and redundancies outside Finland amount to approximately 100 jobs. In total, Finnair currently employs approximately 6.500 employees.

“I’m grateful that together with our employees, we were able to find savings solutions which helped us to save approximately 150 jobs at Finnair. Despite of that, this is a very sad day at Finnair. The corona pandemic has been completely unfair to our industry and unfortunately many Finnair employees now must experience its financial implications personally.” says Topi Manner, CEO. “The changes are, however, necessary and inevitable. Finnair’s re-build requires us to be competitive when aviation gradually starts to recover. Therefore, in the future, we will have to do many things differently in order to succeed in the competitive market.”

In addition to the redundancies, Finnair continues temporary layoffs impacting most of its employees in Finland. For many, the temporary layoffs may continue for a long time as the recovery of aviation will take several years according to the industry estimates.

Support program to help re-employment

Together with many partners, Finnair has built a change security program called NEXT, which comprises of training opportunities, career coaching and re-employment paths outside Finnair. Finnair has developed the program in close collaboration with Public employment and business services, Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, City of Vantaa and with several schools and businesses.

“It has been great how smoothly and in customer-oriented way the implementation of the change security program has started, both with different authorities and with selected educational partners. Every player has been ready to develop solutions specifically for our employees, taking into account the employees’ current knowledge and its development. At this stage, I would like to thank all the partners for the expertise and co-operation they have shown in designing the program.” says Johanna Karppi, SVP People & Culture. “In addition to the usual work-to-work – placement assistance, we have been able to work together to build training and conversion pathways and measures to support entrepreneurship for those Finnair employees who want to expand their knowledge or consider becoming entrepreneurs.“

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair is in the middle of the largest crisis in aviation’s history and is facing a challenging financial situation due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. To emerge from the crisis the airline has launched a comprehensive adjustment and cost-savings program. The program includes, among many other actions, jointly agreed decreases in personnel costs for several personnel groups. Top management remuneration does not include variable salary elements from 2020-2022.

The rebuild of Finnair will take years, and it requires hard work and dedication. Securing the company’s future demands a long-term contribution from all Finnair employees.

Finnair has prepared a long-term incentive program for those personnel groups with whom it reaches agreements on permanent cost savings that support Finnair’s recovery. Finnair has now launched this incentive programme, which starts during this year and ends in the third quarter of 2023.

“Finnair is facing an extremely difficult situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company must make painful decisions to emerge from the ongoing crisis which is reshaping our industry. Getting through this phase requires renewal so that Finnair can be competitive in the years to come,” says Jouko Karvinen, Chairman of the Board, Finnair. “Finnair has launched an incentive programme for personnel and management, aiming at in due course rewarding the Finnair team for their contributions to Finnair’s future. The targets and key performance indicators we have set for the programme are ambitious and in line with the company’s best interests. They are also aligned with the interests of the company’s shareholders.”

The program for personnel will result in an incentive being paid to participating groups if Finnair succeeds in rebuilding its business over the coming three years in line with the set performance indicators and targets. At maximum the incentive pay-out can amount to approximately two months of salary, payable in the third quarter of 2023.

The key performance indicators of the new three-year incentive plan for the Finnair Executive Board are the same as those of the personnel incentive programme. Incentives are paid only if Finnair achieves the common targets.

Finnair has reserved the possibility to offer the incentive program to personnel groups with whom agreements on permanent cost savings have not yet been reached. If such agreements are reached shortly, these personnel groups will take part in the new incentive programme under the same conditions as other participants.

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

Finnair has trimmed its flight schedule for the winter season in line with customer demand, while planning to boost frequencies during spring 2021.

The update comes as the airline responds to a temporary softening of demand in the market due to widespread travel restrictions.

From October 25, 2020 to March 31, 2021, Finnair will serve 45 domestic and European destinations with reduced weekly frequencies on almost all routes.

Finnair’s long-haul flights will focus on Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nanjing and Bangkok, which are also important cargo destinations. On the Bangkok route, Finnair flies passengers only on the BKK-HEL leg. Finnair will also continue cargo-only flights to Singapore and New York.  

Ole Orvér, Chief Commercial Officer, Finnair, said: “We continue to maintain critical air connections for our Europe-Asia transfer passengers and for Finland.

“The pandemic situation and the related travel restrictions continue to have a heavy impact on demand for air travel, and thus it is not feasible to operate all the flights we in May planned for this winter.”

Due to the lower customer numbers, Finnair will temporarily close its lounge at the Schengen area of Helsinki Airport. Finnair’s lounges at the Non-Schengen side have been shut since March.

From November 2020 to March 2021, Finnair is now scheduled to operate approximately 75 flights per day, and it will continue to review its traffic program based on estimated demand, as the changing travel restrictions continue to impact demand for air travel. In 2019, Finnair flew about 350 flights a day and had more than 100 destinations in Europe, Asia and North America.

Flights increase for summer 2021

Finnair has also updated its preliminary flight program for the summer season 2021, which starts on April 1, 2021.

Delayed from this year, Finnair plans to open its new Busan route to South Korea in the summer season 2021. Finnair also intends to start services to Tokyo Haneda Airport during the summer. However, flights to San Francisco in the United States, Xi’an and Beijing Daxing in China and Sapporo in Japan will remain suspended.

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair has started co-operation with private Finnish healthcare service company Terveystalo to offer its customers easy and fast access to coronavirus testing prior to travel. The service will be launched on September 28, 2020.

Some countries require a negative coronavirus test result and a certificate from passengers arriving in the country. The partnership between Finnair and Terveystalo ensures that customers are provided a test certificate required by the destination country conveniently and in a timely manner. Furthermore, Finnair’s customers get access to testing services at a discounted price and with the possibility to buy with Finnair Plus points.

“Safety and enabling smooth travelling are extremely important for us. Unfortunately, travellers face more and more requirements these days. Through our partnership with Terveystalo we want to make travelling easier for our customers to countries that require a coronavirus test certificate,” says Jaakko Schildt, Chief Operations Officer, Finnair.

“As travel restrictions are lifted, it is important to enable travelling with peace of mind. Although interaction through digital channels is a good option for many situations, face-to-face encounters are still needed for both work and leisure. At Terveystalo, we also want to support businesses and offer solutions for work travellers,” says Karita Reijonsaari, Director of Business Development, Corporate Health, Terveystalo.

The PCR test from nose and throat used by Terveystalo meets the international quality standards. This method is the most accepted coronavirus test around the world.

Different countries have varying requirements for coronavirus testing and related documents. Terveystalo specialists discuss these requirements with the customer, and the customer is provided an adequate test and a certificate that fulfils the destination country’s requirements valid at the time. The customer can also choose a test-only option and they will receive the result through the Oma Terveys service immediately after the result is ready. This option serves for example Finnish nationals, who return home from high risk countries and who want to shorten the 14-day quarantine by getting tested after arrival.

Finnair customers are directed to Terveystalo’s digital service through Finnair’s website. Customers can choose their closest Terveystalo clinic for testing from a wide network across Finland. The test and results are scheduled in a way that fulfils the destination requirements. Customers have access to a speedy testing service, and the waiting time for the results is minimised. In the capital area of Finland, the result is ready in 24 hours from testing and elsewhere in Finland in 36 hours on average. Customers receive information on the result with a short message, and the certificate is delivered electronically or in a printed form.

Finnair’s customers receive a 10% discount from Terveystalo’s normal PCR test price. For Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo, Platinum and Gold members the discount is 15%.

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair has updated its schedule for October. The demand for air travel in Finnair’s network has recovered slowly due to the development of the coronavirus pandemic and related travel restrictions, and hence the previously published traffic program cannot be implemented in full due to low demand. Finnair reduces flights from its traffic program and flies approximately 70–80 daily flights instead of the previously planned approximately two hundred flights.

Finnair communicates flight cancellations directly to affected customers and offers customers an alternative flight when possible. Customers can also opt for a full refund of the ticket, if the new flight offered is not suitable.

Finnair serves 42 destinations in October, but frequencies will be reduced on almost all routes. Route starts planned for October to destinations like Bergen, Barcelona, Madrid, St. Petersburg and Stuttgart will be postponed, as well as domestic destinations, Turku and Tampere. Long-haul flights continue to focus on Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, which are also important cargo destinations. A Nanjing route is operated during September and October. Finnair will also continue cargo-only flights to New York and Singapore.

Finnair continues to update its traffic program according to demand. In October 2019, Finnair flew about 350 flights a day and had more than 100 destinations in Europe, Asia and North America.

Finnair has reported its traffic in August:

The COVID-19 pandemic impact remained clearly visible in the August traffic figures, cargo demand still strong

In August, Finnair carried 193,000 passengers, which is 85.8% less than in the corresponding period of 2019 but 32.9% more than in July 2020.

The overall capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) decreased in August by 84.1% year-on-year. Finnair operated 116 daily flights (cargo-only included) on average which was 31.8% compared to August 2019. The differences between capacity figures are explained by the shorter operated flights on average and by smaller operated aircraft compared to August 2019. Finnair’s traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) decreased by 92.4%. The Passenger Load Factor (PLF) decreased by 45.1% points to 41.7%. The COVID-19 impact, including the strict travel restrictions imposed by Finland, still affected all passenger traffic figures and was visible especially in the North Atlantic figures as there were no related scheduled flights in August.

The ASK decline in Asian traffic was 86.6%. The North Atlantic capacity decreased by 100.0%. In European traffic, the ASKs were down by 78.7%. The ASKs in domestic traffic decreased by 62.5%.

RPKs decreased in Asian traffic by 96.4%, in North Atlantic traffic by 100.0%, in European traffic by 86.4% and in domestic traffic by 64.6%.

The PLF was 24.3% in Asian traffic but it was supported by the cargo operations and very high cargo load factor. The PLF was 52.8% in European traffic and 62.8% in domestic traffic, whereas there was no PLF figure in North Atlantic traffic due to zero passenger flights in August.

Passenger numbers decreased in Asian traffic by 96.4%, in North Atlantic traffic by 100.0%, in European traffic by 84.9% and in domestic traffic by 69.5%.

Available scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 86.8% year-on-year and revenue scheduled cargo tonne kilometres decreased by 81.4%, both due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on scheduled flights. However, cargo related available tonne kilometres decreased by 78.4% and revenue tonne kilometres decreased by 70.5% and they included also the cargo-only flights mainly operated between Europe and Asia as well as Europe and North America. The total cargo tonnes were up by 13.7% from July 2020 mostly due to strong demand related to the scheduled cargo capacity. As a result, the cargo load factor was still clearly higher than in the corresponding period of 2019.

In August, 96.0% of all Finnair flights arrived on schedule (76.9%).

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair has received permission from Chinese authorities to operate one weekly flight between Helsinki and Nanjing as of September 11, 2020. The route will be operated with Airbus A350-900 aircraft until October 18, 2020, and it supports cargo and passenger travel demand between Europe and China. The flight schedule is  published in all Finnair sales channels.

Finnair currently offers smooth connections to 30 destinations in Europe and Finland from its Helsinki hub.

Finnair currently serves some 40 destinations in Europe and Asia, operating altogether 80-90 flights per day. Finnair constantly reviews its traffic plan and has the capability to add flights and re-open destinations at a rapid pace, as travel restrictions are removed and travel demand recovers. Long-haul flights to Asia are also supported by cargo demand.

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair has started co-operation negotiations on its plan to reduce up to 1,000 jobs, to make other structural changes and to implement additional temporary layoffs due to the impacts of the corona pandemic. The co-operation negotiations concern approximately 2,800 employees working at Finnair in Finland, and similar processes are conducted in Finnair’s units abroad. Finnair employs a total of approximately 6,700 employees, of whom 6,200 are based in Finland. Almost all of Finnair’s employees in Finland have been temporary laid off for a part of the spring and summer. In addition to the planned personnel reductions, Finnair will continue to apply temporary layoffs for practically all its personnel in Finland. The temporary layoffs can be either for fixed term or until further notice.

The goal is to ensure the continuity of Finnair’s core operations so that cabin and flight deck crew can return to work gradually as soon as the market recovers and flights can be increased. For this reason, Finnair is not currently planning permanent reduction of its flying personnel in Finland.

”COVID-19 is the deepest crisis of aviation. The pandemic and the exceptionally tight travel restrictions in Finland have impacted flight demand and we will operate only a small part of our capacity compared to last year. A rapid turn for the better in the pandemic situation is unfortunately not in sight. Our revenue has decreased considerably, and that is why we simply must adjust our costs to our new size”, says Topi Manner, Finnair CEO.

”We want to build a competitive future for Finnair and retain as many jobs at Finnair as possible. Also, we want to be able to offer good connections to the world for Finns and the Finnish economy in the future. Unfortunately, this requires the measures we announced today. As the timeline for aviation’s recovery is unclear, our plan is also to implement significant temporary layoffs to adjust our resources.”

Finnair wants to act responsibly in this difficult situation and will support affected employees through a social program, which will include practical job-to-job support, training and guidance on entrepreneurship.

The planned personnel reduction measures are included in Finnair’s savings target, which Finnair has today updated from 80 million euros to 100 million euros.

Finnair has made this announcement:

Finnair will fly fewer frequencies to European destinations in September than previously planned. Many countries have imposed new travel restrictions in recent weeks due to the corona situation, resulting in lower-than-expected demand. Some domestic destinations are also served at a lower frequency than before.

The company is scheduled to fly in September to all European destinations that were flown in August, but at a lower frequency. The exceptions are Nice and Turku, to which the company will stop flights in September.

Frequencies to some domestic destination will be adjusted. In September, Finnair will fly to Kuopio once a day and to Vaasa and Mariehamn five times a week. The company had also planned to start flights to Tampere in September, but due to the demand situation these flights will be postponed.

“The coronavirus situation has changed in many countries in recent weeks, which is why several countries have imposed new travel restrictions. There are still no connecting passengers from Asia and the United States to support European flights because of severe travel restrictions in these regions. Also, the local demand is more moderate than estimated due to the same restrictions. Therefore, we must adjust flights accordingly,” says Mikko Turtiainen, VP, Market Management. “In September, we will operate about 30% of the flights we had in September 2019.”

“On the other hand, Lapland and Kuusamo seem to be of more interest to domestic passengers than expected, which is why we are adding new flights to these destinations.”

More flights to Lapland and Kuusamo 

Finnair will increase flights to Ivalo, Kittilä and Kuusamo in September by flying to Ivalo and Kittilä eight times a week and to Kuusamo nine times a week. Rovaniemi continues to be served with 28 weekly flights.

Finnair will contact customers on cancelled flights and re-route them on other flights. The majority of passengers on European flights can be accommodated on a new flight on the same day.