Finnair Oyj's Chief Executive Pekka Vauramo, locked in a showdown with pilots and cabin crew over compensation, said Finland's legacy carrier needs to position itself for a strategic partnership with a bigger carrier in the event of consolidation in the Nordic airline industry.
Mr. Vauramo joined Finnair last year, taking the helm of a company that has posted EUR185 million ($254.23 million) in cumulative net losses since 2009. Finnair, 56% state-owned, has leveraged the geography of its Helsinki hub to become a sizable player in traffic between Asia and Europe.
The personnel cost structure, however, "has destroyed our profitability, " Mr. Vauramo said in an interview at the company's new Helsinki headquarters. "It is critical that we bring it down to levels that prevail in the market."
