Finnair Looks To Refresh Its Narrowbody Fleet With At Least 15 New Airbus Aircraft
Finnair's oldest Airbus A320 family aircraft are over 23 years old, with some being delivered to the Finnish airline in 2000.
Finnair’s chief executive has confirmed that the Finnish airline is exploring a new Airbus order as it will have to replace some of its older narrowbody aircraft, including the A319ceo and A320ceos.
According to Reuters, Turkka Kuusisto, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Finnair, told reporters that the Finnish airline is eyeing an order for at least 15, or even up to 25 or 30, new Airbus single-aisle aircraft. Kuusisto noted that the final number of aircraft Finnair could purchase is “still on the drawing table.”
The CEO pointed out that Finnair’s most urgent need is to replace 15 older narrowbodies. Per planespotters.net records, the airline has five A319ceo, 10 A320ceo, and 15 A321ceo aircraft in its fleet.
Out of the 30 narrowbodies, the A319ceo and A320ceos are its oldest examples, with the two subtypes averaging an age of 24.3 years and 23.2 years, respectively. The 15 A321ceo jets have an average age of 11.1 years, planespotters.net fleet data showed, with Finnair having taken delivery of the A321ceos between May 2003 (OH-LZE) and July 2018 (OH-LZU). OH-LZE and OH-LZF are the only two A321ceos that were delivered in the early 2000s, with the other 13 A321ceo aircraft arriving at Helsinki Airport (HEL) between September 2013 and July 2018.
Finnair’s other aircraft include 12 ATR 72-500s, with an average age of 16.3 years, 12 Embraer E190s, with an average age of 17.3 years, eight A330s, with an average age of 16 years, and its flagship widebody aircraft, the A350-900s. The latter fleet is, on average, 7.6 years old.
Over the past five years, Finnair welcomed only a handful of new aircraft to its fleet. Since 2020, Finnair’s new deliveries have included four A350-900 aircraft, registered as OH-LWP, OH-LWR, OH-LWS, and OH-LWT, as well as two ATR 72-500 turboprops. The latter, registered as OH-ATM and OH-ATO, were only re-registered to Finnair’s fleet as they were handed over to their original operators in May 2011 and November 2011, respectively.
Finnair’s ATR 72-500s and Embraer E190s are operated by Norra, a Finland-based wet lease carrier, which is partly owned by Finnair and Danish Air Transport (DAT), another wet lease operator.
For the Finnish carrier, the most recent headache had been the strikes by the Finnish Aviation Union (Ilmailualan Unioni, IAU), which caused disruptions at HEL, its main hub, on March 27, May 2, May 5, May 16, May 19, May 30, June 2, June 4, June 17, June 19, July 2, July 4, and July 7.
Or simply put, out of the 187 days between January 1, 2025, and July 7, 2025, flight disruptions occurred on 13 days.
When Finnair published its H1 2025 financial report on July 16, 2025, the airline detailed that while its revenue grew by 2.4% year-on-year (YoY) to €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion), its half-year net loss worsened from €12 million ($13.9 million) to €38.4 million ($44.7 million).
The report also detailed that it only has a single A350-900 delivery remaining, which should arrive at HEL sometime in Q4 2026. “Finnair is also preparing a partial renewal of its narrow-body fleet,” it said.
Renewing its narrowbody fleet, whether the airline would simply buy more Airbus aircraft by upgrading to the A320neo family aircraft, or it would go the other way and opt for the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft family, will prove to be a difficult venture.
Both aircraft manufacturers of large single-aisle jets have sold out their delivery slots into the 2030s, meaning that if Finnair does not go with deliveries from aircraft lessors that hold earlier delivery slots, it could be waiting for new aircraft for quite some time.
There are cases when delivery slots free up due to other airlines’ misfortune – case in point: Aegean Airlines potentially taking over JetBlue’s A321XLR deliveries – or aircraft free up due to other carriers’ struggles – case in point: AerCap’s demands prompting Spirit Airlines to file its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in a year – but these come with their own caveats.
Aegean Airlines’ statement about its incoming A321XLR aircraft read that they would be equipped with 138 seats, including 24 business class suites with fully lie-flat beds and 114 economy class seats. JetBlue’s current A321LRs have 24 Mint suites and 114 economy class seats, potentially resulting in discrepancies between aircraft cabins within the Greek airline’s fleet. In April 2024, Aegean Airlines said that its incoming A321LRs would fit up to 180 passengers, 40 fewer than its standard A321neo aircraft that seat 220 travelers.
Rytis
For Finnair, exploring the second-hand aircraft and/or delivery slot market would yield a quicker fleet renewal, yet could result in inconsistent passenger experience between its aircraft, or even costly cabin refurbishments. At the same time, operating older narrowbodies is no cheap matter as well.
According to Reuters, Kuusisto said that the airline’s final decision on its fleet renewal will be made by the end of the year.
