Finnair will acquire two 270-seat Airbus A340 wide-bodied aircraft to meet its growing long-haul traffic needs. The aircraft will be acquired on lease agreements of around four years from the leasing company ILFC. The aircraft will join the Finnair fleet in late 2010 and early 2011.

"We have recently announced an increase in Asian traffic and we need additional capacity. This decision will enable us to satisfy growth needs until we take delivery of the new generation Airbus A350 aircraft," says Finnair President & CEO Mika Vehviläinen.

Finnair currently has 12 Airbus long-haul aircraft, which fly to nine destinations in Asia as well as to New York in North America. At the end of this year, one further new Airbus A330 aircraft, ordered earlier, will join the fleet. With the coming additions, Finnair's long-haul fleet will grow to a total 15 Airbus aircraft by the beginning of next year.

"All of our Airbus long-haul aircraft have an excellent business class with lie-flat or full-flat seats. Moreover, we can use the long-haul aircraft flexibly on long scheduled traffic and leisure flights, depending on the season. This ensures the most efficient possible use of the aircraft at different times of the year."

Next May, Finnair will open a daily direct route to Singapore. The Finnair flight, which will be the only direct connection between Northern Europe and Singapore, will provide excellent service to business passengers. For Asian passengers, the Singapore route will offer excellent onward connections via Finnair's route network to 50 European destinations.

"Finnair's Asian strategy has worked extremely well. Demand has continually strengthened and now is the right time to increase capacity and boost our market share in Asia's growing market."

Finnair will also increase direct flights to Hong Kong. Instead of the earlier seven flights, Finnair will fly to Hong Kong with a frequency of 12 flights per week from June next year. During spring 2011, more frequencies will be added to the other current Asian destinations.

“Our Asian routes are also important in terms of cargo. The A340 aircraft, moreover, will bring additional capacity to meet the needs of Asia's rapidly strengthening cargo demand,” says Vehviläinen.

Out of Finnair's 61 aircraft 34 are owned and 27 leased, ten from ILFC. "ILFC is pleased to be able to support Finnair's growth as it implements its Asia strategy and other strategic initiatives and we look forward to delivering these A340 aircraft in the months ahead and continuing the expansion of our relationship with Finnair," said Philip G. Scruggs, ILFC's Chief Marketing Officer.

Finnair Plc Communications 29.7.2010

Finnair has sold the last two Boeing MD-11 aircraft still owned by Finnair to Neff Air, Jim Neff's aircraft leasing company based in the USA. The aircraft will be delivered in January 2011 to the buyer. The sale is estimated to have no substantial impact on Finnair's result.

Both aircraft served Finnair's passenger traffic since the early 1990's. Currently one of the aircraft is flying, as converted to a freighter, cargo flights between Helsinki Hong Kong and Soul and the other one will be converted later this year. Finnair is currently studying of dedicated MD-11 freighter operations also beyond the end of the year and one option is to continue the operations by leasing one or two of these aircraft.

Finnair Plc Communications 28.7.2010

SIGNIFICANT GROWTH IN FINNAIR'S ASIAN TRAFFIC — UNIT REVENUES ON THE RISE

In June, Finnair's Asian traffic grew by 26 percent compared with the previous summer's figures. The growth of all scheduled traffic was 12 percent. ”The demand for Asian traffic is growing noticeably. We are increasing our capacity to destinations in Asia. Next summer, we will open a new non-stop route to Singapore”, says Finnair's President & CEO Mika Vehviläinen.

Including leisure flights, the growth in Finnair's total revenue passenger kilometres was eight percent compared to June last year. Leisure traffic decreased by nine percent compared with last June. In June, the passenger load factor covering all Finnair flights was 77 percent, which is approximately three percentage points better than last year.

The unit revenue of Finnair's scheduled flights per passenger kilometre increased by six percent in the second quarter compared with the previous year, whereas during the first half of the year the unit revenue decreased by one percent. One significant factor is that the demand for business class has increased by almost 40 percent. On Asian flights, the number of passengers in business class increased by over 50 percent.

“In addition to the growth in the overall demand, particularly corporate travel has increased no matter the travel class. The demand comes, above all, from European and Asian markets outside Finland. The change in passenger structure during the year has improved the unit revenue significantly. The price level is however clearly below 2008”.

The total number of passengers on Finnair flights during the beginning of the year was 3.5 million. Out of this number, 450,000 passengers travelled on leisure flights. The number of passengers on scheduled flights was on last year's level.

The amount of cargo and post carried in June was 54 percent higher compared with June last year. This significant increase is mainly due to the cargo flights from Helsinki to Hong Kong and Seoul that began in May. Also the amount of cargo carried on scheduled flights increased by over 30 percent.

In June, 87.3 percent of all Finnair flights were on schedule, which is 1.7 percent less than in June last year. The percent of punctual scheduled flights was 88.7 percent. This is a decrease of 1.8 percent compared with the situation in June last year.


FINNAIR PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 7 July 2010 AT 09:00

FINNAIR TO ORDER FIVE EXTENDED-RANGE AIRBUS AIRCRAFT FOR ITS EUROPEAN TRAFFIC

Finnair will order five new Airbus A321ER aircraft. This type of aircraft is a further development of the type of aircraft already used by the company that forms the backbone of the European fleet. The aircraft's range is over 5,000 kilometres, which allows, for example, direct flights from Finland to the Canary Islands. Finnair is the first to order this developed version of A321. The first delivery is scheduled in 2013. In the next few years, the new aircraft will replace four Boeing 757 aircraft used on leisure flights.

- Finnair's fleet is one of the most modern in the world. The new type of aircraft is more fuel efficient than before and it produces less emissions. At the same time, the acquisition will standardise the Finnair fleet, allowing long-haul, European and leisure traffic aircraft to be flown by the same crews, said Finnair's SVP Corporate Communications Christer Haglund at ILA Berlin Air Show.

The new wing-tip sharklets reduce fuel consumption by up to four percent. Engine manufacturer has not yet been selected. The aircraft to be used by Finnair will have around 200 seats.

Finnair has systematically renewed its fleet since 1999, when the modernisation of the European traffic fleet began. The fleet renewal will reduce emissions by at least 41 percent from 1999 to 2007. The Finnair fleet currently consists of 29 Airbus A320 aircraft and 12 long-haul Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft. At the end of the year, one more A330 long-haul aircraft will join the fleet. In addition, Embraer aircraft are used in domestic and European feeder traffic.

The order is valued at over 400 million euros based on list prices. The five narrow-bodied aircraft will replace an order for two long-haul aircraft planned for 2012-2013. As other airlines reduce their capacities, it is possible to find aircraft to meet the possible needs of long-haul traffic growth on favourable terms.

The new aircraft will deliver improved synergy between Finnair's scheduled and leisure flight operations. Finnair's goal in the next few years is to increase its market share of the growing leisure flight market.

- The reorganisation of flight production last year and the new aircraft give us an opportunity to offer competitive leisure travel products to both Finnair Group's tour operator Aurinkomatkat-Suntours and other tour operators, says Haglund.

Finnair Plc Communications 10 June 2010

In August, Finnair will open a new, fast connection from Helsinki to Stockholm. Instead of Arlanda Airport, passengers can choose Bromma Airport, which is situated close to downtown Stockholm and the Kista business area, where many international companies are located.

“The new, fast connection will best serve business passengers who travel often between Helsinki and Stockholm. Bromma Airport is very efficient. It's possible to check in 15 minutes before departure, which shortens the overall travel time,” explains Finnair's Vice President Network Strategy and Traffic Planning Petteri Kostermaa.

Finnair will fly to Bromma twice per day Monday-Friday and once on Sunday. The fast connection will open on 18 August. In addition to Finnair, the company's Danish partner Sun-Air will begin a daily service on the route. The cooperation of Finnair and Sun-Air also offers Swedish customers excellent connections to
Asia.

In addition to the Bromma route, Finnair flies 50 flights per week between Helsinki and Arlanda. Until 1962 Finnair's Stockholm flights landed at Bromma, before Arlanda Airport opened and international traffic was transferred there.

Bromma applies very strict environmental and noise restrictions, which set high demands on the aircraft using the airport. Finnair will fly the Bromma route with modern Embraer aircraft.

Finnair Plc Communications 7.6.2010