Climate targets backed up by science

In a global world, flying allows us to connect between countries and continents for trade, relationships, culture and for love. In order to continue to benefit from the social and economic good flying brings to our lives, we are committed to reduce the carbon emissions of our flight operations. We trust science to show us the way.

Our vision for the future is to accelerate the transition of aviation away from fossil fuels. In 2020, we set ourselves a target of flying carbon neutral by the end of 2045. As we define the roadmap to achieve our long-term climate target, we have also committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). In Spring 2024, we sent our climate target for validation to the SBTi.

SBTi is currently the best practice for setting climate targets in line with the Paris climate agreement. The initiative provides a framework and instructions for organisations on how much and how fast they need to reduce their carbon emissions to stay in line with the critical global warming threshold of 1,5 Celsius.

Aviation is a challenging sector to decarbonize, since unlike other modes of transport, the electrification of commercial aviation is not a realistic option. Also, getting an aircraft weighing around 200 tonnes into the air requires a vast amount of energy, and this energy is currently derived from fossil sources.

What we are doing to reduce carbon emissions of flying:

Use less fuel 

We are constantly working on using fuel as efficiently as possible. For example, we optimise the allocation of aircraft to different routes on a daily basis according to varying demand and fuel consumption. Finnair pilots are also trained to fly fuel efficiently, and they have tools in place for optimising flight levels and speeds to save fuel. Also, our uncongested home hub Helsinki Airport is ideal for fuel-saving continuous descent approach landings.

The weight of the aircraft has a direct impact on fuel-efficiency, and weight is thus a consideration for items onboard, from carpets to seats to trolleys.

Use cleaner fuel

Conventional jet fuel is made of crude oil, but there are other alternatives already in use that do not require burning fossil fuels. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is an umbrella term for fuels that are made of renewable feedstocks, such as used cooking oil and animal fat. When compared to fossil-based jet fuel, SAF can reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% during the fuel’s life cycle.

Currently, the share of SAF of our total fuel consumption is low, but the share will increase through regulatory mandates and our voluntary actions in the coming years. To meet our climate targets, we are committed to using more SAF than is mandated but we will also need the support of our customers. Increasing the use of SAF in aviation is something that everyone of us can participate in.

Fly with modern fleet

We fly one of the most modern widebody fleets in Europe. Most of our over 70 aircraft are Airbuses, including several new state-of-the-art Airbus A350s. The A350 has 25% better fuel-efficiency compared to other current-generation aircrafts.