Finnish national carrier Finnair's third-quarter sales fell sharply due to declining demand for business travel, and the company said it would continue to make losses in the second half.
Finnair slid to a July-September operating loss of EUR24.1 million euros (USD$35.75 million), from EUR25.5 million last year.
Turnover slumped 22 percent year-on-year to EUR436.9 million as a sharp fall in demand for business travel hurt average ticket sales prices.
State-controlled Finnair, like other airlines, has been battered as the economic slowdown throttles demand. However, it has slashed capacity, launched a number of cost cutting programs and said it expects its second-half loss to narrow from the first half.
"Finnair still has a long way to go before its corporate structures and the operating conditions they create are sustainably competitive," CEO Jukka Hienonen said in a statement.
