Päivyt Tallqvist to succeed Arja Suominen as Senior Vice President, Communications at Finnair
Finnair Plc Stock Exchange Release 29 September 2020 at 2.40 p.m. EEST
Päivyt Tallqvist, M.Sc. (Economics), 50, has been appointed Senior Vice President, Communications and a member of Finnair Executive Board as of November 1, 2020. Tallqvist currently works as Director, Media Relations at Finnair, and has prior to her Finnair career served in different communications leadership roles in Nokia.
Arja Suominen, Finnair’s current Senior Vice President, Communications and Corporate Responsibility and member of the Finnair Executive Board will leave the Executive Board as planned on October 31, 2020. She will continue to serve as executive advisor in Finnair until December 31, 2020.
”I am happy that Arja Suominen has, contrary to her earlier personal plans, led Finnair’s communications through the difficult first phase of the pandemic situation. I also want to extend my sincere thanks to Arja for her role in building a truly inclusive, dialogue-based communications culture at Finnair. Arja has with her team also taken Finnair’s international visibility to a completely new level, which has strongly contributed to Finnair’s growth and brand awareness in our markets. Another sign of great leadership is also the fact that we can appoint her successor from within the team”, says Topi Manner, Finnair CEO.
”Päivyt Tallqvist is an experienced and competent communications leader, whose role now expands to cover Finnair’s communications as a whole. In this rebuild phase of aviation it is vital to have strong experience from both aviation and from demanding communications challenges in our communications team. I also wish Päivyt warmly welcome to our Executive Board”, says Manner.
”I have served as Senior Vice President, Communications and Corporate Responsibility for almost 10 years, and I feel that the time is now right for doing something else. During these years I have grown to value high both Finnair employees and Finnair as a company. I am also confident that Finnair will overcome the coronavirus challenges. We have amazing people who put their heart and mind into working according to Finnair values. I thank all of them for being excellent colleagues”, says Arja Suominen. ”I am happy to get a successor from my own team; Päivyt has done a great job and she will now continue this in her new role. I wish her the best of success for communications in Finnair’s re-build period. I will now return to being a loyal customer for Finnair.”
”I am taking on the new role with great enthusiasm”, says Päivyt Tallqvist. “Finnair is now in an exceptional situation due to the industry crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and communications will play a newly highlighted role in the rebuild period. Finnair is important for Finns, and that is why this new role is especially meaningful to me.”
FINNAIR PLC
Further information:
Finnair communications, 358 9 818 4020, comms@finnair.com
Distribution:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Principal media
Finnair is a modern premium network airline, specialising in passenger and cargo traffic between Asia and Europe. Helsinki’s geographical location gives Finnair a competitive advantage, since the fastest connections between many European destinations and Asian megacities fly over Finland. Finnair is the only Nordic network carrier with a 4-star Skytrax ranking and a member of the oneworld alliance. In 2019, Finnair’s revenues amounted to EUR 3,098 million and it carried over 14.7 million passengers. Finnair Plc’s shares are quoted on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.