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Finnair foresees its expansion slowing in 2019, but continues to aim for sustainable profit growth, the company’s CE said Feb 15. The carrier predicts the economies of several of its main markets will grow weakly, if at all, in 2019 and is keeping a close watch on one of its major rivals, Norwegian, in its Nordic and European markets. Presenting the airline’s full-year figures for 2019, CE Topi Manner said Finnair had carried a record 13.3m passengers. However, this passenger growth of 11.6% was outstripped by a 14.8% increase in capacity, measured in ASKs, resulting in load factor dropping 3.4% to 76.9%. Finnair recorded a net profit for the year of E150.7m, down 11.1% from E169.4m in 2017. Revenue for the year was 10.4% up at E2.83b. <br/>

The announcement by IAG that it would consider UK shareholders as EU investors after Brexit has been described as “totally absurd” by a senior official in Brussels. The airline group said this week that it had put a cap on the number of non-EU investors who can own shares in the event of a no-deal Brexit. But it also suggested it would count UK shareholders as EU investors even in that scenario. Airlines must show they are more than 50% owned and controlled by EU investors to retain flying rights within the bloc, posing a challenge for some European carriers, such as IAG, Ryanair and EasyJet, with their diverse investor bases. The EU official said IAG had not approached the EC to discuss its move, which appeared directed at maintaining its flying rights in case of several potential Brexit outcomes. <br/>