Finnair Oyj - Company Announcement

JAPAN, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA CRISES WILL IMPACT NEGATIVELY ON FINNAIR'S RESULTS

FINNAIR PLC            STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE          24 March 2011    AT 15.20

Finnair CEO Mika Vehviläinen at the company AGM:"World events in recent times cannot but have an effect on Finnair. We expect
that the shocking and devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan will have a
negative impact on flight demand in the coming weeks and months," says Finnair
CEO Mika Vehviläinen in his speech at today's Annual General Meeting at the
Helsinki Fair Centre. "It is currently impossible to assess, however, the future course of the crisis
in Japan and the subsequent recovery. Over the longer term, the reconstruction
of Japan may act as a stimulus for our sector. We will continue to monitor and
evaluate the situation and its effects. At the moment, however, we are focusing
on helping Japan by flying our scheduled nearly 20 flights per week to Japanese
destinations and by delivering humanitarian aid to the disaster area. This is
the best way that we can help the Japanese people at this sad time," says
Vehviläinen. 

According to Vehviläinen, in addition to the situation in Japan, the sharp
increase in the price of oil due to events in the Middle East and North Africa
will inevitably affect Finnair's result in 2011. "To date we have not seen any stabilisation or decline in oil prices. It is
impossible to predict how the situation will change both in Japan and the
Middle East or how fuel costs will develop in future. Our current estimate,
however, is that we will be unable to achieve a positive result unless there is
a substantial improvement towards the end of the year in the oil price trend
and in the situation in Japan. Our first quarter result, moreover, will be even
weaker than previously forecast. Finnair will, of course, continue all measures
aimed at restoring operational profitability and will also explore new means of
achieving this goal,” says Vehviläinen. 

Finnair previously forecast that its first quarter 2011 result would be
significantly loss making and that the result for the full year 2011 would be
in profit. 

Finnair Plc
Communications

Arja Suominen
SVP Corporate Communications and Corporate Responsibility
tel. +358 9 818 4028

Additional information: Finnair Media Desk tel. +359 9 818 4020,
comms(a)finnair.fi