Finnair to accelerate growth, seeks ancillary revenue growth to EUR15/pax by 2018

Finnair hosted (25-May-2016) a Capital Markets Day for institutional investors and analysts on 25-May-2016. The carrier noted its plan to speed up its growth. The carrier explained that growth can be accelerated in particular by retaining two A330 aircraft in operation beyond 2017, which were initially scheduled for decommissioning at the time. Finnair now expects its capacity to grow annually by 8%-10% on average as measured by ASK during the strategy period extending to 2018. Furthermore, it now expects to double its Asian traffic from the 2010 level already in 2018, while the original target was set at 2020. Finnair is also seeking to outperform average unit revenue developments in its key markets. Among other things, the company seeks to increase its ancillary revenues from the 2015 level of EUR10/passenger to EUR15 by 2018. At the same time, Finnair's average aircraft size will grow, and the company will recruit about 900 persons during the strategy period, particularly in flight operations. Combined with continuous cost discipline, this will have a positive impact on the cost structure: the company expects its fleet costs, relative to ASK, to decrease by 8% during the strategy period while the average wage costs of its flying personnel should decrease by 9%. [more - original PR]