Finnair’s Annual General Meeting 2016: speeches by Chairman of the Board and CEO
Klaus Heinemann, Chairman of the Board: Success requires development of Helsinki Airport in cooperation with Finavia
Pekka Vauramo, Chief Executive Officer: We brought the customer into the core of our strategy
–Year 2015 marked a turnaround for Finnair, stated Klaus Heinemann, Chairman of Finnair’s Board of Directors, upon opening Finnair’s Annual General Meeting 2016. – After several loss-making years, we achieved a positive result. It goes to show that the savings measures taken have generated the desired results, and that our performance is moving in the right direction.
– We are now laying the foundation for Finnair’s future. In defining our strategy, we have reflected on what kind of airline Finnair wants to be. Our decision was to emphasise the customer experience. We want to offer the customer a unique Nordic experience, which is a competitive and distinctive one, Heinemann underlined.
Mr Heinemann stated Finnair reformed its organisation at the beginning of the month for the very reason of achieving its customer experience and growth objectives.
He also highlighted smooth transfer experience as part of total quality: – The customer forms an image of the service of an airline on the basis of the smoothness of the whole customer experience. Therefore our cooperation with our hub, Helsinki Airport, plays a key role. The airport has previously functioned quite smoothly. However, now it is experiencing turbulence, as the airport is being expanded to prepare for growth.
According to Heinemann, it is important that cooperation between Finnair and the airport operator, Finavia, remains smooth during the transition years: – We must be able to join forces with the airport in order to find a way to emerge from the transition as the winner. Helsinki Airport plays a crucial role in Finnair’s customer experience and therefore in the company’s success. We both must succeed, since without the other – there is no other – at least in the present extent. The expansion must be completed in a manner that preserves the reputation of Helsinki Airport as a smooth connecting airport.
In his presentation, Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo walked through Finnair’s main events and strategic decisions during the past year: – We achieved a profitable result in 2015 and rolled out the new A350 aircraft, which was an inspiring experience for our entire personnel.
– At the end of the day, I think the biggest change last year was the change in atmosphere. We are now on a roll, which is reflected in everything we do. This is a good place to continue from.
– Last year was a series of little victories, on the basis of which we now begin to build profitable growth. Although cost-effectiveness continues to be important, our focus has shifted to the customer. Customer experience and the digital transformation of the company are now at the core of our operations. Our objective is to offer our customers a unique Nordic experience, which differentiates us positively from the competition. The objective is to bring customer experience on a new level within two years. Therefore, in our new organisation, we will emphasise the development of both face-to-face services and smooth digital services. We want to make travelling easy and pleasant.
– I believe that our inspired personnel, development-oriented customer service and growth will also bear financial fruit. We are not yet making sufficient result to cover our fleet and service investments. However, I believe our customer-focused growth strategy will also help us improve our financial result. Our targets are set high, outlined Pekka Vauramo. – Growth is a precondition for our competitiveness. Growth decreases our relative costs and improves our competitiveness. In addition, the development and sale of new ancillary products continue to play an important role in our strategy.
– At Finnair, we work hard on all fronts for the future. We are going to see the results of these efforts gradually. We have made the decision to differentiate through customer experience, which is impressive but also within reach for as many people as possible. I strongly believe that as we focus on customer experience, growth, business development and personnel experience in line with our strategy, we are able to transform faster than the competition and emerge as the winning team, Vauramo concluded his address.
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About Finnair
Finnair flies between Asia, Europe and North America with an emphasis on fast connections via Helsinki, carrying more than nine million passengers annually and connecting 17 cities in Asia with more than 60 destinations in Europe. The airline, a pioneer in sustainable flying, is the European launch customer of the next-generation, eco-smart Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and is the first airline listed in the Leadership Index of the worldwide Carbon Disclosure Project. The only Nordic carrier with a 4-star Skytrax ranking, Finnair has also won the World Airline Award for Best Airline Northern Europe for the past six years running. Finnair is a member of oneworld, the alliance of the world's leading airlines committed to providing the highest level of service and convenience to frequent international travellers.