Finnair has better Q1 result, promises to improve service for flight delays

HELSINKI - Finnish national airline Finnair achieved better result during Q1 in 2018, the company said on Wednesday.

The carrier made profit of 3.9 million euros. In the same period in 2017, Finnair showed a nine-million-euro loss.

Finnair noted in its release that the company has now improved its result for 14 consecutive quarters.

Finnair's CEO Pekka Vauramo said the competition is expected to increase in the services between Asia and Europe and Europe and North America.

Finnair has decided to take in two Airbus A350 aircraft earlier than planned. They will now be delivered in 2019 and 2020.

Vauramo regretted that during the quarter, difficult weather conditions caused flight delays and cancellations, which affected customer satisfaction. He pledged more efforts with local airport operator Finavia to serve the customers in exceptional weather circumstances.

Helsinki is a hub for changing aircraft between Asia and Europe.

Finnair plans on increasing its capacity by more than 15 percent in 2018, with most of this growth coming in the first half of the year.

Depite its good Q1 result, the stock of Finnair lost over 13 percent of its value on Wednesday after the publication.

Analyst Antti Viljakainen told business daily Kauppalehti that investors probably are worried about the increase in the price of fuel. "It was not seen in the Q1 figures, but what is to come causes concern," he said.

Viljakainen said the investor reaction was unreasonable, against the backdrop of the figures given.

Finnair is publicly listed, but the state of Finland is its majority owner.