Finnair has named former Nokia finance head Kristian Pullola as its new CFO, succeeding Mike Stirkkinen. Pullola worked at Nokia for some 21 years and became chief financial officer of the mobile communications firm in early 2017, leaving the company in August 2020. He will join Finnair on 1 September and Stirkkinen – who has been with the airline for over two decades – will leave at the end of October. Along with his term at Nokia, Pullola has served on the boards of chemistry specialist Kemira and private healthcare company Terveystalo, and chaired real estate firm Antilooppi Management. He will join Finnair as it recovers from the pandemic, supporting the carrier’s strategy in a “dramatically changed” operating environment, says CE Top Manner. “[His] vast experience in driving change is an asset for us as we move towards Finnair’s next chapter,” Manner adds. Finnair turned in a comparable operating loss of E217m for the first half, including an E84m loss for Q2. It attributes the Q2 performance to the impact of closing Russian airspace in response to the Ukrainian conflict. “The company is preparing a new strategy to improve its weak profitability and to strengthen its financial position,” it states. While the airline expects to operate third-quarter average capacity some 70% of pre-crisis levels, and similar volume in the fourth. “Significant uncertainty in Finnair’s operating environment prevails, however, as the market price of fuel is historically high,” it says. Finnair warns that its comparable operating result for 2022 will be “significantly negative” for a third consecutive year as a result of the Ukrainian conflict.<br/>
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Qantas Airways said Thursday it would buy back up to A$400m ($276m) of shares after the lifting of COVID curbs spurred a strong rebound in travel demand, boosting its second half performance and lowering debt levels. The rush to travel once borders opened has been so strong that Qantas said it had been forced to trim domestic capacity by a further 10 percentage points since its last update in June due mostly to operational challenges associated with the demand surge. "We always knew travel demand would recover strongly but the speed and scale of that recovery has been exceptional," Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said. The airline posted an annual underlying loss before tax of A$1.86b in the 12 months ended June 30, wider than the A$1.77b restated figure from a year earlier and slightly bigger than analyst forecasts. The bulk of the losses were reported in the first half when domestic and international borders were closed under strict measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. "Our debt is now below our target range – so in addition to the investments we're making in customers and our people, we're in a position to start repaying shareholders," Joyce said of the surprise on-market buyback. Investors had provided A$1.4b in equity during the pandemic to help shore up the airline's balance sheet.<br/>