The new integrated Flight Traffic organisation that starts its work in Finnair on 1st October has been formed from the company’s scheduled passenger traffic and leisure flight operations.
As a new member of the Executive Board, I will be responsible for ensuring that Finnair’s flights are operated safely, economically and punctually. It sounds simple, but this goal is actually very complex and highly challenging.
Currently our organisation employs Finnair’s 800 pilots and around 400 cabin staff. In addition to flight operations, we are also responsible for arranging ground functions that support traffic, maintaining the airworthiness of our fleet, and cooperating with the authorities on flight permit issues.
Our route network control centre (NCC) monitors the company’s traffic at all times and is responsible for managing traffic changes. The NCC’s work not only safeguards our passengers’ connections but is also decisively important for the company’s financial result. Traffic irregularities carry a big price tag.
Work in the control centre is conducted at a brisk tempo and demands high professional expertise, as well as a capacity to work under extreme pressure. Although Finnair is one of Europe’s most punctual airlines, every day we encounter challenging situations in which we have to switch aircraft, make reroutings and find new staff for flights at short notice. Decisions are made quickly and often at difficult times of the day in terms of the crew availability.
How well we succeed and the quality of our work are reported in the media from time to time. A further challenge is presented by the fact that our aircraft currently fly in 16 different time zones. Annually we operate around 45,000 return flights.
The operational cornerstones of my organisation can be summed up in three words: safety, economy and punctuality.
In relation to quality and reliability, Finnair has achieved a level that is currently at the top of our sector and which withstands comparison with all of our main competitors.
At the same time, however, the company has regrettably underperformed in terms of key production factors, especially in productivity of work and capital resources.
The challenge is now to improve both the use of the aircraft fleet and the work productivity of personnel. From an operational perspective, there is simply no other remedy for improving competitiveness.
In addition to maximising use of resources, we have set ambitious targets for the continuous development of flight economy.
We are spurred on towards these targets by a major external factor: the high prices of oil and jet fuel. We also been working for a long time now on developing flying and approach methods aimed at cutting the fuel consumption of aircraft. We have succeeded in this, and at the same time we have borne our responsibility for environmental issues, too. Our modern fleet is economical and it adversely affects our environment as little as possible.
Finnair flight operations’ use of resources has traditionally been divided into two areas: scheduled passenger services and leisure traffic. Traffic has been handled partly with shared and partly with separate aircraft and crew.
The goal of the new organisation is to create a foundation for structural efficiencies by standardising scheduled and leisure traffic and traffic planning while at the same time increasing cross-utilisation of resources, particularly where our aircraft fleet is concerned.
The number of leisure trips made each winter from Finland has been continually growing for decades now. In our strategically key Europe-Asia traffic, on the other hand, the peak of demand occurs in the summer season. This presents opportunities for improving the use of the fleet, thereby minimising the impact of the traditionally quieter traffic periods. An aircraft is a factory that produces only when it is in the air. That’s why its efficient use is vital also from a financial standpoint.
The intention is also to lengthen the traffic planning period to enable productivity to be improved more effectively than it has to date and to remove overlapping functions in the organisation.
The Finnair world of flying is therefore not yet ready, but we have rolled up our sleeves and started working towards a better tomorrow.
I am confident that Finnair has what it takes to operate in today’s competitive environment, when we have all members of the team pulling in the same direction. In this respect the challenges are not inconsiderable, but problems are there to be solved.
I believe that the gravity of the economic situation and the inappropriateness of old attitudes for today’s competitive situation have also been understood in the air transport sector’s employee organisations, which have traditionally focused on the robust defence of their interests. Adjustment measures are painful but necessary to ensure the continuity of operations.
Although a significant part of the work of the Production unit takes place behind a closed door on the flight deck or otherwise in support services unseen by customers, I even so consider customer-orientation to be extremely important. We exist to serve air travellers.
To our passengers, our work is evident as safe and punctual flights to wherever Finnair’s blue and white wings carry our aircraft around the world.
Erno Hildén
The writer is Finnair’s SVP, Operations as of 1 October.
Filed under: Safety, Traffic and punctuality | Tagged: operations, organisation, production, punctuality
