Finnish flag air carrier Finnair announced that it will cancel 90% percent of air traffic starting 1 April until further improvement in the world caused by the coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish).
Also the number of flights will be reduced towards the beginning of April. About 1500-2000 flights will be canceled between 16 March to 31 March.
Finnair reported that the company normally flies 110 routes and about 12,000 flights per month, but capacity cuts will reduce the number of flights to an estimated 1,600 flights per month.
Finnair CEO Topi Manner said in a news release, “We are extremely sorry about the disruption and uncertainty the situation is causing to our customers and their travel plans. In this situation, the capacity cuts are unavoidable –we cannot fly customers in a situation where we may not be able to fly them back home.”
According to the company, all the most important connections within Finland and to the world as well as critical air freight will be maintained. It is a prerequisite, of course, that no new travel restrictions come from the authorities.
The routes of Finnair which do operate
Domestic:
Kuopio, Mariehamn, Oulu, Rovaniemi
During the Easter travel season (early to mid-April) Finnair will also operate the following routes: Ivalo, Kittilä, Kuusamo.
Europe:
Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Paris, Stockholm, Zürich
Finnair will also fly to Copenhagen, Moscow, Oslo, St Petersburg, Riga and Tallinn once the travel restrictions to these destinations are lifted.
Intercontinental flights:
Tokyo
NEW EARNINGS WARNING
At the same time, Finnair issued a new earnings warning.
“In the coronavirus epidemic, the comparable operating result for 2020 is becoming significantly weaker than last year", Finnair says in its stock exchange release on Monday.
According to the company, the dividend proposal of EUR 0.20 is not being implemented.
