Finnair is preparing a partial renewal of its narrowbody fleet, indicating that it will involve its 15 oldest Airbus A320-family airframes.
Speaking during a full-year results briefing, chief executive Turkka Kuusisto said the scope and timing of the modernisation will be detailed when the company has “finalised calculation”.
But he states that the average lifetime of the oldest airframes is “already beyond 20 years”.
Finnair has 30 narrowbody aircraft comprising 10 A320s and five A319s, plus 15 A321s.
Its latest fleet addition is an Airbus A350-900, introduced in December, which took its A350 fleet to 18.
One A350 delivery is outstanding. Finnair says it is scheduled to arrive in the second quarter of 2026 but is “likely” to be delayed to the second half. The carrier also has eight A330s.
Over the course of the fourth quarter Finnair purchased two previously-leased aircraft, an A350 and an A321. As a result it owns 34 of its 56 aircraft.
Finnair’s regional division, Norra, is undertaking a refurbishment of Embraer 190 cabins. Seven are being refitted this winter and all 12 will be finished in 12 months’ time.
Kuusisto says Finnair expects to increase capacity by 10% this year, although the “vast majority” of this comes from the aircraft “called back” to the fleet from wet-lease operations.
These include four narrowbodies previously operated for British Airways and two A330s flying for Qatar Airways.
Only the latest A350 delivery, says Kuusisto, is an “investment-based” capacity increase for 2025.
Finnair says its foothold in Asia is “still strong” but the roles of North Atlantic and European traffic in its operation have grown – and its capacity rise for 2025 “focuses” on the North Atlantic.
It expects its overall capacity hike to help generate full-year revenues of around €3.3-3.4 billion ($3.5-3.6 billion) this year, and a comparable operating profit of €100-200 million.
The airline’s revenues last year reached €3.05 billion and the carrier turned in a comparable operating profit of €151 million. Its net profit was €37 million.
Finnair’s outlook for this year does not include the effects of the current industrial action by pilots over collective labour negotiations. The negative impact of this action in January was around €5 million.
