The airline has concluded an agreement with Airbus to postpone the deliveries which were originally planned to occur between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022. Finnair now plans on taking delivery of the aircraft 24 months later, saving around €200 million in 2021 CAPEX spending.
Today (November 6, 2020), Finnair announced that they have reached an agreement with Airbus to postpone delivery of the remaining three A350-900s the carrier has on order. The deliveries, which were originally scheduled to take place between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022, will now be delayed for 24 months. The deferrals will save the company around €200 million from investing activities in 2021. The agreement is part of Finnair’s comprehensive measures to reduce costs and preserve liquidity so they can emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic as a stronger airline. In Friday’s announcement, Finnair’s Senior Vice President – Finance and Fleet Management, Christine Rovelli, said,
“Finnair has been in intensive negotiations with all of its suppliers during the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking to reduce expenditures in order to support our ramp-up plans when traffic recovers. This agreement will give us more flexibility to deploy the existing fleet more efficiently and improve cash flow.”
Specializing in passenger and cargo traffic between Asia and Europe, Finnair has a competitive advantage due to their geographical location. Finnair is the only Nordic network with a 4-Star Skytrax rating and carried over 14.7 million passengers in 2019, earning revenues of €3.1 billion. The carrier is also a member of the global oneworld® alliance and its shares are traded on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.
Source: Finnair