The coronavirus epidemic has had a severe impact on demand for air travel, and several countries have set restrictions on air travel. Finnair has today commented on the financial implications of the situation in a stock exchange release.

Finnair is now making substantial adjustments to its traffic and will reduce approximately 90 per cent of its normal capacity, compared to 2019, starting from the beginning of April 2020. These adjustments will be in effect until the situation improves. As of 1 April, Finnair will temporarily operate only approximately 20 routes, ensuring certain critical air and cargo supply connections for Finland during this exceptional situation. Finnair will start transitioning to the limited network immediately and will cancel between 1,500 to 2,000 flights from 16 March to 31 March.

"The coronavirus epidemic has decreased air travel dramatically, but we want to maintain the most critical air connections for Finland also in this exceptional situation," says Topi Manner, Finnair's CEO. "We continue to follow the situation closely, adding routes and frequencies to the traffic program as demand returns. We hope to be able to return to normal operations as soon as the coronavirus situation alleviates. 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."

As of 1 April, Finnair operates the routes listed below, with a limited number of weekly frequencies, provided that there are no additional travel restrictions set by the authorities. All flights on other routes are cancelled.

Contributed by Finnair