Finnair reported an operating result of €47.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, up from €22.5 million a year prior. The company said industrial action had impacted the result by around €5 million.
“The result for the quarter was negatively impacted by weather-related disruptions and industrial action by the Finnish Air Line Pilots' Association related to the pilots' collective bargaining, which led to a cancellation of approximately 300 flights during two days in December and more than 200 flights outside those two days in November and December," said Finnair CEO Turkka Kuusisto. "The pilots' industrial action had a negative impact on the regularity of Finnair flights and affected more than 60,000 customers in total.”
The company reported a loss of €8.4 million, compared to a profit of €60.2 million a year prior, impacted by industrial action and return on adjustments made to the company's pension fund. The company reported a loss per share of €0.04.
"The market dynamics shifted during 2024. Demand weakened from the record strong comparison year, capacity in the market increased, and average ticket fares declined," said Kuusisto.
Revenues for the quarter were up 7.7% to €782.9 million, up from €727.2 million a year prior. Unit revenue, or RASK, was up 4.3% to 8.38 cents and unit costs, or CASK, was up 1% to 7.87 cents.
Capacity increased 3.3% in the quarter with passengers up 9.1% to 2.8 million. Passenger load factor increased 3.3 percentage points to 76.4%.
For the full year, revenues were up 2% to €3bn, while unit revenues were down 3.6% to 7.97 cents. Full year revenues met its previous guidance of €3.0-3.2bn. Unit costs were down 2.4% to 7.57 cents. The company's operating result was €151.4 million, down from €184 million.
The company's profit for the year was €37 million, down from €254.3 million. The company reported earnings of €0.18 per share, down from €2.25 per share in 2023.
Passengers carried for the year were up 6.1% to 11.7 million, while capacity was up 5.8%. Passenger load factor was down 0.6 percentage point to 75.8%.
The company proposed a dividend of €0.11 per share to its shareholders.
Finnair said it plans to increase capacity by 10% in 2025, which also takes wet leases into account. Revenues for the year are expected to around €3.3-3.4bn and its operating result to be around €100-200 million.
“In 2025, profitability is burdened particularly by additional costs caused by the sustainable aviation fuel distribution obligation introduced in the EU, as well as rising navigation and landing charges, which will weigh on the comparable operating result especially for the seasonally low quarter,” said Finnair in its results.
“We are currently finalising a strategy update with a particular focus on Finnair's core customers’ needs, operational development and cost competitiveness to maintain and strengthen our position as a safe and high-quality airline and a trusted partner for our customers," said Kuusisto. "As part of this, we are also preparing a partial renewal of our narrow-body fleet.”
The first quarter result is also expected to be impacted negatively by Easter falling into the second quarter this year. In addition, the company said that while it expects global traffic to continue growing this year, headwinds such geopolitical issues and the “tense labour market” will cause uncertainty in its operations.