Finnair Oyj

Earnings Release • Jan 8, 2010

Disclosure 275027

Finnair Oyj - Company Announcement

FINNAIR'S BUSINESS CLASS DEMAND STRENGTHENS IN ASIAN TRAFFIC

FINNAIR OYJ STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE JANUARY 8, 2010 AT 09:00 Finnair's scheduled traffic declined in 2009 by nearly nine per cent compared with the previous year. Last year, Finnair carried more than 7.4 million passengers on its scheduled and leisure flights. Business class passenger numbers fell in 2009 by a couple of per cent, but grew in December by 16 per cent, despite scheduled traffic capacity cuts. Passenger numbers in scheduled traffic were more than nine per cent lower. Due to a more than ten per cent capacity cut, however, the passenger load factor rose by more than one percentage point to over 73 per cent. In December the fall in scheduled traffic demand levelled off. Scheduled traffic declined by four per cent. Capacity in scheduled traffic was cut in December by more than eight per cent, so load factor rose by more than three percentage points to 75 per cent. Asian traffic declined over the full year by nearly ten per cent, and in December by less than four per cent. Last year, more than 1.1 million passengers travelled on Finnair's Asian flights. Business class demand in Asian traffic in growing. In December the number of business class passengers in Asian traffic grew by one quarter. "A pick-up in business travel between Europe and Asia is perceptible. Growth is now coming from markets outside Finland in particular. We have improved service in long-haul traffic business class. Passengers on a flight to Asia can travel in a full-flat bed seat," says Finnair SVP Communications Christer Haglund. European and domestic traffic both declined in December by more than three per cent and capacity was cut by more than 11 per cent, so load factors rose in European traffic by five and in domestic traffic by six percentage points. In the full year, European traffic declined by more then eight per cent and domestic traffic by nearly 13 per cent. Leisure traffic declined in December by 30 per cent and capacity was cut by the same amount compared with December of last year. In terms of the full year, leisure traffic declined by more than ten per cent. "Leisure flight passenger numbers have clearly declined, which is due both to a fall in demand and a change in market share. Finnair's leisure traffic capacity has been successfully adjusted, which has kept load factors and prices at a sound level," says Haglund. Finnair scheduled traffic's average revenue per passenger kilometre fell last year by 14 per cent and in the final quarter by more than 12 per cent. "The price level of flight tickets has fallen significantly, and no rise in prices is perceptible," says Haglund. For cargo traffic last year was difficult, which was apparent as a 12 per cent fall in cargo demand. In December demand grew more than six per cent. The price level is still clearly below the year 2008 level. Of Finnair's flights, 50 per cent arrived on schedule in December, which is 30 percentage points less than in the same period last year. Among the main contributing factors to delays were an illegal walkout by loading personnel and poor weather around the Christmas period at Helsinki-Vantaa and Central European airports. For the full year, the arrival punctuality of scheduled flights was 87 per cent. TRAFFIC PERFORMANCE DECEMBER 2009, FINANCIAL YEAR 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | December | %-CHANG | January-De | %-CHANG | | | 2009 | E | cember 09 | E | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | TOTAL TRAFFIC | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 571,9 | -8,9 | 7 432,9 | -10,1 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 2 114,5 | -14,4 | 26 259,8 | -9,8 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue passenger kilometres | 1 658,7 | -13,5 | 19 934,5 | -9,0 | | mill | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 78,4 | 0,8 p | 75,9 | 0,7 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cargo tonnes total | 7 127,9 | 4,4 | 89 234,1 | -12,6 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available tonne-kilometres mill | 310,7 | -16,1 | 3 920,1 | -12,6 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue tonne-kilometres mill | 191,2 | -8,7 | 2 297,7 | -9,7 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Overall load factor % | 61,5 | 5,0 p | 58,6 | 1,9 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | SCHEDULED TOTAL | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 488,4 | -4,1 | 6 309,7 | -9,2 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 1 605,1 | -8,3 | 20 827,2 | -10,3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue passenger kilometres | 1 204,0 | -4,0 | 15 288,6 | -8,5 | | mill | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 75,0 | 3,3 p | 73,4 | 1,4 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | EUROPE | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 268,6 | -2,2 | 3 672,1 | -8,8 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 533,5 | -11,9 | 7 590,3 | -9,9 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue passenger kilometres | 360,0 | -3,3 | 5 065,4 | -8,4 | | mill | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 67,5 | 6,0 p | 66,7 | 1,1 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | NORTH ATLANTIC | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 11,1 | -9,2 | 165,3 | 6,9 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 89,5 | -3,9 | 1 320,8 | 10,3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue passenger kilometres | 73,1 | -9,2 | 1 091,4 | 7,0 | | mill | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 81,7 | -4,8 p | 82,6 | -2,6 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ASIA | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 96,3 | -4,5 | 1 157,7 | -10,9 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 874,5 | -6,0 | 10 712,8 | -12,2 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue passenger kilometres | 704,5 | -3,9 | 8 416,9 | -9,9 | | mill | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 80,6 | 1,7 p | 78,6 | 2,0 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | DOMESTIC | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 112,5 | -7,5 | 1 314,7 | -10,6 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 107,7 | -11,1 | 1 203,3 | -13,5 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue pax-kilometres mill | 66,5 | -3,1 | 714,9 | -12,6 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 61,8 | 5,1 p | 59,4 | 0,7 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | LEISURE TRAFFIC | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passengers 1000 | 83,5 | -29,4 | 1 123,2 | -14,9 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available seat-kilometres mill | 509,3 | -29,3 | 5 432,6 | -7,7 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue passenger kilometres | 454,8 | -31,4 | 4 645,9 | -10,5 | | mill | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Passenger load factor % | 89,3 | -2,8 p | 85,5 | -2,6 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | CARGO TRAFFIC | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cargo scheduled traffic total | 6 979,7 | 6,3 | 86 969,0 | -12,0 | | tonnes | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Europe tonnes | 1 259,4 | -21,9 | 18 344,3 | -11,4 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | North Atlantic tonnes | 557,4 | 3,4 | 6 647,0 | -11,5 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Asia tonnes | 4 979,9 | 19,6 | 59 290,2 | -12,1 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Domestic tonnes | 182,9 | -27,5 | 2 687,6 | -14,0 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cargo leisure traffic tonnes | 148,2 | 20,5 | 1 279,1 | 111,1 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Scheduled cargo charter tonnes | 0,0 | -100,0 | 986,0 | -64,3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cargo tonnes total | 7 127,9 | 4,4 | 89 234,1 | -12,6 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Available tonne-kilometres* mill | 67,6 | -14,8 | 847,9 | -12,7 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Revenue tonne-kilometres mill | 42,5 | 13,2 | 511,5 | -12,3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cargo load factor* % | 63,0 | 15,6 p | 60,3 | 0,3 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | - North-Atlantic cargo load | 78,0 | 13,1 p | 61,4 | -8,8 p | | factor* % | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | - Asia cargo load factor* % | 75,4 | 18,0 p | 71,8 | 2,6 p | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - * Operational calculatory capacity - p = Percentage points - Change %: Change compared to the figures of the previous year - Revenue passenger kilometres: Number of revenue passengers carried, multiplied by kilometres flown - Available passenger kilometres: Total number of seats available, multiplied by the number of kilometres flown - Available tonne kilometres: Number of tonnes of capacity for carriage of passengers, cargo and mail, multiplies by kilometres flown - Cabin factor: Share of revenue passenger kilometres of available passenger kilometres - Overall load factor: Share of revenue tonne kilometres of available tonne kilometres Next release on traffic statistics will be released on February 9, 2010. Finnair Oyj Communications January 8, 2010 Taneli Hassinen VP Financial Communications and Investor Relations Tel. +358 9 818 4976 Additional information: Mr. Lasse Heinonen, EVP & CFO, tel. +358 9 818 4950 Mr. Christer Haglund, SVP Corporate Communications, tel. +358 9 818 4007 Mr. Taneli Hassinen, VP Financial Communications and Investor Relations, tel. +358 9 818 4976 Mr. Petteri Kostermaa, VP Traffic Planning, tel. +358 9 818 8504 Mr. Pertti Mero, VP Cargo Sales, tel. +358 9 818 5401