Finnish airline Finnair plans to invest as much as 4 billion euros, equivalent to 41.7 billion kronor, in its aircraft fleet. This is to modernize and expand its fleet of smaller aircraft to fly between European cities. It reports Bloomberg.
Over the past five years, 2 billion euros, equivalent to 20.8 billion kronor, have been spent on changing long-haul flights to become more fuel-efficient while simultaneously reducing costs and emissions.
Finnair CEO Topi Manner tells Bloomberg that the investment will be covered by the company's strong cash flow.
Flying leaves a significant carbon footprint, but Topi Manner says Finnair has several improvements planned. New short-haul aircraft will cut its emissions in European traffic by 10 to 15 percent and the company is exploring biofuel.
At the same time, Topi Manner says Finnair wants to increase its revenue by adding more flights to Asia's largest cities. He also sees a "robust" Chinese market with "high demand.".
According to him, Finnair will generate higher cash flow as the company increasingly leans on digital technology and automation. In an interview on Wednesday, he said that fuel efficiency is high on the airline's list of priorities.
”With that focus, we believe we can also improve both profitability and cash flow and thereby enable us to finance our planned investments,” Topi Manner tells Bloomberg.
Finnair has around 1 billion euros, equivalent to 10.4 billion kronor, in cash. The company expects to generate around 3 billion euros, equivalent to 31.3 billion kronor, in cash over the six years but needs to improve its short-haul fleet.
Source: di.se
