RENEWAL OF THE FINNAIR FLEET CONTINUES

Three MD-80 aircraft sold


Finnair has sold two MD-80 aircraft to a company belonging to PacificLifeCorp of the United States and one MD-80 aircraft to another US company, Pacific Coast Group. The transactions totalled EUR 41.2 million.

Gains from the sales amounted to EUR 18.7 million, of which EUR 10.9 million were included in net earnings for the second quarter of the current financial year and EUR 7.8 million in net earnings for the third quarter.

The aircraft, which were manufactured between 1987 and 1990, have now been leased back to Finnair for three years. They will be replaced by aircraft in the Airbus A320 family after the leases expire.

The sales are part of a strategy according to which MD-80 aircraft operated by Finnair will be replaced with Airbus A320 aircraft acquired for European traffic.

Funds obtained from the transactions will be used to finance acquisitions of Airbus A320 aircraft, of which Finnair already has seven.

Five additional aircraft will be acquired by the end of 2001 and the Company has ordered a further six Airbus A320 aircraft for delivery in 2002 and 2003.

The short-term leases now concluded raise the number of leased MD-80 aircraft to twelve. The Finnair MD-80 fleet also includes two aircraft acquired with a financial lease and nine owned outright by the Company. The above leases will increase Finnair's capacity to adapt to fluctuations in demand and ensure orderly disposal of the MD-80s.