Finnair Cargo: Santa's preferred carrier happily adapts to a new, if unlevel, playing field

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Finland shares a 1,340km border with petulant Russia; it recently joined NATO to help mitigate some of the risk that comes from having an aggressive and impetuous neighbour.

And its people are said to be among the world’s best prepared in case of attack or war, with advice offered on how to be prepared to survive 72 hours in a crisis. Half a million Finns have already downloaded an emergency preparedness guide, according to The Guardian, as concerns over Russia grow. 

That’s quite some burden. Yet despite this threat – for the seventh time in a row – Finland has been named the happiest country in the world. 

It turns out that Finns are an adaptive people. As Politico noted recently: “[The] Nordic nation has little choice but to highlight the Russian threat: Russia isn’t hiding its combative nature. And Finland has successfully ensured the world doesn’t forget about the menace next door. It has done well in marshaling its national resources to counter it. Even Finnish companies that used to depend on exports to Russia have managed to shift their exports to other countries.” 

Nowhere has this ability to adapt to new circumstances been more obvious than with its national carrier, Finnair, which has had a tough time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

“We always say at Finnair, never waste a good crisis,” joked Anna-Maria Kirchner, head of global sales at Finnair Cargo. 

“But the great thing is that we’re a small organisation. I sometimes say we’re not a small airline, we are more like a niche carrier, we react really fast. So we’re very agile.” 

One major issue for Finnair was the closure of Russian airspace – which, given Finland’s lengthy border with Russia, posed quote a challenge. 

“It’s a lot more cost. We used to be the closest way to Asia because we are so far north. We used to have more than 50 flights a week to China alone. So we had to redefine our strategy – and we are profitable, so this is very, very important. For us, this airspace closure is much bigger than the pandemic, and we don’t know when it’s going to end, or what will be the consequences. Will airspace be closed for 10, 20 years? 

“It’s a very long way now. And it is an additional cost, because we need to have a double crew and, of course, more fuel.” 

Finnair has, therefore, made significant changes. First, it is one of just a few carriers that have invested in a maximum takeoff weight kit from Airbus, for its A350s, explained Ms Kirchner. “Basically it’s a configuration. It has a price tag, of course. But with that, we are able, if it’s configured on our aircraft, to uplift even more cargo.

“So, to give you an example, if you fly to Japan, the flight time is almost three hours longer than it used to be. With that, and then on the return from Tokyo, because we have headwinds, we would hardly be able to take any cargo. But with the configuration, it gives us the opportunity to have on average up to 20 to 25 tons of cargo, with a full load of passengers as well.” 

The carrier has 17 A350s, with another delivering this month and a second in the spring. But it has reduced some flights to Asia, although Finland and Japan have strong trading ties, so the Toyko route continues.  

Ms Kirchner added: “We used to have a triple daily, now we are a double daily to Bangkok and a daily to Phuket instead. Most of the Asian network has resumed. The only one which has not is China –  the passengers are not there just yet. So we have stripped down a lot from China’s market.” 

But it has been difficult to pass on the additional costs to Asia-focused customers. 

“We see it more as a global picture to be profitable. Flight times are 25% longer, and the readiness to pay for that is not there, as such. But on the other hand, we are quite fortunate that the yields out of Asia at the moment on the cargo side are so elevated that it covers those costs as well. So this is also a big advantage for us.” 

Ms Kirchner even manages to sound positive over the unlevel playing field, on which Chinese and Middle Eastern carriers can overfly Russia. 

“You know, we are in the same pool as the other western carriers  – none of us are able to fly over it. And this probably has made us even closer, because we’re all in the same boat. 

“If it wasn’t this, it would be something else. There is always something.” 

It’s not only overflight rights that was challenging for Finland’s national carrier. “Before the war, we had shipments to Russia; we used to be one of the biggest exporters to Russia.” But both country and carrier have taken a highly principled stance on sanctions, even to the point of stopping offering passengers Swedish chocolate, when it was discovered the producers continued to operate a factory in Russia. 

Instead, Finnair has turned its attention to other revenue-making strategies, one, wet-leasing out capacity it no longer needs for Asia. Its eight A330s can no longer fly there, “it’s too far and the tonnage is not good. The furthest we go is Delhi and Dubai, and now Miami in the winter schedule, as well as JFK and Chicago”. 

Finnair, a OneWorld member, has flown for partners BA and Qatar Airways, and is providing a wet-lease to Qantas between Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney. Two aircraft which have been operating between Scandinavia and Doha will be returned in January. 

“It’s our crew, our aircraft, but then they’re being utilised in a better way.” 

But at the heart of its adaptability is a new geographical focus. 

“We are adding quite a lot of capacity into the US; we have six gateways there. And we are doubling our capacity, as of the summer season next year. 

“We’re going to be flying 11 times a week to Dallas, five times a week to LA, five  times a week to Seattle, and then we will have a daily Chicago and daily JFK. So it’s quite a lot of capacity we will be putting into the market.” 

This pivot to the west fits in nicely with its top commodities. Finnair Cargo sees itself as specialist carrier – and is quite particular in what it carries. 

It moves more than 100,000kg of fish every day, and has a state-of-the-art, fully automated cool cargo facility, which can also handle pharmaceuticals and other perishables. One of its top fish commodities is live king crabs, which are in hot demand, 

Finland does export pharma, but is also a big transit hub for pharma shippers. Denmark, for example, is a large producer of weight-loss drug Ozempic, for which “the world is going crazy”. 

Finnair also operates widebodies to Europe, including London, Amsterdam and Munich, as well as having “a very extensive trucking network”, including to places “as crazy as Rome or Madrid”. 

“But our core home market is of course the Nordics and the Baltics, like Estonia, Lithuania, even going a little bit into Poland, even Germany.” 

Anna-Maria Kirchner

Ms Kirchner explained: “We have very good roads. We don’t have any fjords, we have no mountains, so even now in winter we have very good roads. So we are preferred partner to the majority of fish and live king crab partners. They come into our cool cargo terminal and it’s so efficient; it’s built right next to where all our A350s are lined up to go to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Incheon and so on. Cargo only needs to leave the cool terminals 30 minutes before departure.” 

But Finnair likes general cargo too, she added.  

“We have a lot of solar panels and so on, a lot of spare parts for the automotive industry, especially from Asia, and the big German brands as well. We specialise in the pharmaceuticals and perishables, but a very big bulk of our business is general cargo.” 

Ms Kirchner says the new government has so far been good, and the state-owned carrier is allowed to adapt and build as it sees fit. 

“We want to be in our little comfort zone, up in the north. We want to do things to perfection. And we are fun people,” she said, noting that Finnair is the official carrier of Santa Claus.  

“Finns are very principled people. We are fun, but we like structure.” 

Which explains Finland’s pivot to the west – and its adaptable nature in the face of challenging geopolitics.