Finnair proceeds with its growth strategy; expands and modernises its European fleet

Finnair has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with BOC Aviation Pte Ltd (“BOC Aviation”) to lease four new Airbus A321-200 narrow-body aircraft. BOC Aviation is a Singapore-based subsidiary of Bank of China, specialising in aircraft leasing. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery to Finnair during the first half of 2017. The lease agreements have a minimum term of eight years.

In November, Finnair had announced the temporary damp-lease of two A321 aircraft from summer 2016 onwards. This arrangement is intended to cover the transitional period until the delivery of the four A321 aircraft now dry-leased from BOC Aviation for the longer term.

The transactions are part of Finnair’s fleet renewal, the first phase of which consists of replacing aging long-haul A340 wide-body aircraft with modern A350s. With a view to the growing long-haul traffic, feeder capacity is increased by adding seats to existing narrowbody aircraft and replacing some smaller aircraft with larger ones over the next few years. The A321 is Airbus’ largest narrow-body passenger aircraft, and the Finnair configuration will feature 209 seats.

The sale of four surplus aircraft

In the same context, Finnair sells surplus aircraft in accordance with its fleet plan to various buyers. The agreements or MoUs concern one ATR turboprop aircraft used in regional traffic, and two Embraer E170 regional jet aircraft, which will be retired from Finnair and Norra’s traffic in January-February 2016 and subsequently delivered to the buyers. In addition, Finnair will sell an old A340 wide-body aircraft for part-out in the first half of 2016. The sale transactions do not have a significant impact on profit and loss.

The fleet currently owned and operated by Finnair is available on the company’s website at www.finnairgroup.com.