Finnair recorded a “strong” fourth quarter of 2025 and has achieved what it calls a “stable financial position”, positioning the business to roll out the refreshed strategy it unveiled in November.
Outlining its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on 11 February, the carrier’s chief executive Turkka Kuusisto struck an upbeat tone regarding the outlook for 2026, despite continued softness in transatlantic markets.
Referencing the “double crisis” faced by Finnair a few years ago – the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the closure of Russian airspace to a carrier with a business plan centred on connections to Asia – and then the tumultuous first half of 2025 when industrial action hit the airline’s operations, Kuusisto delivered “very good news” about the business’s health today.
Noting that North American markets account for less than 10% of the carrier’s capacity, Kuusisto says that, as outlined during a Capital Markets Day in November, the airline’s “even stronger focus” on passengers travelling to and from Finland – alongside connecting traffic – and on European and Asian markets in particular, position it for a profitable 2026 based on current assumptions.
The airline is launching 12 new European routes this year, alongside a service to Melbourne via Bangkok. Finnair will introduce a third daily service to the latter airport as part of that service to Australia.
Geopolitical risks endure, Kuusisto says, but forward bookings for services to Japan and within Europe in particular are giving the business reasons for optimism regarding passenger demand for its services and confidence that it has found the right strategy after a challenging emergence from the pandemic.
Kuusisto notes that Finnair is still working on an order for a partial refresh of its ageing narrowbody fleet of Airbus A320-family jets, saying 15 of the airframes are targeted for replacement, with further examples being needed for growth.
Finnair recorded a comparable operating profit of €61.7 million ($73.1 million) in the fourth quarter, which was up from €47.9 million a year earlier. That was on revenue some 0.8% higher at €790 million. It swung from a small net loss to a net profit of €26.2 million for the three months.
Its full-year profitability essentially halved year on year at an operating and net level, however, at €64.2 million and €18.4 million respectively, after a tricky first six months of 2025 pushed it on to the back foot.
It is guiding for a full-year comparable operating profit in the range for €120-190 million for 2026.
