Finnair Hires Banker As New CEO

Finnair has appointed Nordea bank’s head of personal banking Topi Manner as its new chief executive, joining the airline on January 1, 2019.

Manner will replace current CEO Pekka Vauramo who is leaving to take up the role of chief executive at Finland’s Metso Group.

“Topi Manner has extensive experience in both private and corporate customer business, and he has played a strong role in the digital transformation and customer service development of his bank,” Finnair chairman Jouko Karvinen said.

“We believe Topi’s people-centric leadership is an excellent fit for a service company like Finnair, which is all about people, both personnel and customers. Finnair has been transforming fast over the past years, and we continue to advance both our customer experience and our transformation.”

Topi Manner said “Finnair is an iconic, renewing Finnish company with a significant national role. The Finnair team has done excellent work over the past few years. I know Finnair people are strongly committed to the company which gives us a good ground to continue Finnair’s strategy implementation.”

Chief financial officer Pekka Vähähyyppä will act as Finnair’s interim CEO until the end of December.

National carrier Finnair is 55 percent owned by the government of Finland. It operates a fleet of over 80 aircraft on domestic and international routes. It has a strong focus on routes to Asia, operating to around 20 destinations, and has recently increased services on routes to the Americas.