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(Reuters) -Finland’s national carrier Finnair posted a quarterly loss on Tuesday and said the Ukraine war and the lingering impact of the pandemic were set to keep the company in the red for a third straight year this year.
The company said in the second quarter to end June it operated at just 64% of 2019 capacity as Russian airspace closures restricted flights to key Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea.
While Finnair said demand has almost normalized in Europe and the United States, the company plans to unveil a new strategy in the autumn to address the uncertain outlook that includes high fuel prices, the pandemic and the Ukraine war.
“Finnair estimates that the difficult operating environment, including the closed Russian airspace, will prevail for a longer period,” it said in a statement.
“Therefore, the company is preparing a new strategy to improve its weak profitability and to strengthen its financial position.”
The company reported a quarterly operating loss of 84.2 million euros versus 151.3 million euros a year ago. Revenue increased 392% to 550.3 million euros as passenger load factor more than doubled to 67.3%, the company said.
Finnair estimated that it would operate an average capacity of 70% of 2019 volumes in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it sees similar or slightly higher volumes than in the third quarter.
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