FINNAIR'S LONG-HAUL TRAFFIC GROWS

FINNAIR PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 8 March 2011 AT 09:00

Finnair’s traffic grew in February by just under 3%, measured in passenger kilometres, compared with February the previous year. Most growth took place in long-haul traffic – Asian traffic by more the 5% and North American traffic by just over 29%.

“As demand picks up, we have increased capacity on our long-haul routes. Part of the additional capacity will be assigned to the Singapore route, which opens at the end of May,” says Finnair’s Chief Financial Officer Erno Hildén.

The modest growth in Asian traffic is partly explained by the continued after-effects of the cabin crew strike, because there was less group travel. The Chinese New Year, which took place at the beginning of February, also reduced travel on Asian routes.

In European traffic, capacity was increased by 8%, but the level of traffic fell by around 1%, so the load factor declined by just under than 6 percentage points. Due to capacity increases, load factors also fell slightly, as expected, in other types of traffic, with the exception of North America.

In January-February, nearly 1.2 million passengers travelled on Finnair flights, which is over 3% more than in the corresponding period last year.

Leisure traffic declined by 2%. Capacity was cut by just under 2%, which kept the load factor above 94%.

The amount of cargo carried on Finnair flights grew by nearly 34% in February compared with February the previous year. Cargo demand has picked up, particularly in traffic between Europe and Asia, and the cargo aircraft traffic initiated last spring is also evident in the figures.

The arrival punctuality of Finnair flights in February was 81%, which is nearly 15 percentage points better than last year. The arrival punctuality of scheduled flights was nearly 83%, which is more than 14 percentage points better than in February the previous year.