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Asia routes increase Finnair fuel costs by 40% in first quarter 2024
April 24th 2024
While Finnair's latest financial results show total fuel costs declined 4.1%, to 210 million euro (US$224 million), in the three months to March 31, the fuel bill for its Finland-Asia network was higher by 40%, the result of the airline having to fly longer routes between Finland and Asia since Russian air space was closed in early 2022. Read More » To illustrate the impact on the airline of skirting Russia’s airspace, Finnair repeated comments from past results presentations. It said the actual distance its aircraft flew between Finland and Asia was 35% higher than the Great Circle Distance used to measure Available Seat Kilometres (ASK). For Finnair's total network, the actual distance flown was 15% above its stated ASKs measured by the Great Circle Distance. The oneworld alliance member said this industry standard for calculating capacity did not reflect its longer routings to Asia. “[The] impact on Finnair is greater than on competitors,” the airline said.
