Vehviläinen has had to make some difficult decisions when it comes to the future of the airline, which was losing customers due to tough competition from economy airlines prior to his tenure. It is continuing to implement his plans to lead Finnair, one of the world’s oldest airlines, out of difficulty and emerge as a successful business once more.
Although Vehviläinen had no previous experience in working for an airline before being appointed CEO of Finnair, he is more than qualified as a successful businessman. Born in 1960, Vehviläinen attended two prestigious business schools before embarking on his working career. Vehviläinen graduated from the Helsinki School of Economics with a master’s degree in business and he was also awarded an advanced management programme degree from Harvard Business School. In his most recent role before becoming the chief executive officer of Finnair, Vehviläinen worked as a chief operating officer at Nokia Siemens Networks, a company that employed him for more than 19 years. During his time at Nokia, Vehviläinen’s work included developing and marketing the business in a number of locations around the world, including Asia and Europe.
Vehviläinen announced his overall aspirations for the Finnish airline in a press conference that took place a few months before he assumed the role of CEO. According to Euroinvestor, Vehviläinen is quoted as saying, “Finnair has all that it takes to emerge from the hard times as a winner, but this will require goal-directed development of the business practices. It will be necessary to improve competitiveness and management and personnel will have to cooperate closely in this task.”
From the very beginning of his career with Finnair, Vehviläinen began to implement his plans for the airline in order to achieve his goal of making the company more efficient and profitable. Firstly, costs needed to be reduced, and Vehviläinen announced that spending would need to be cut by around 200 million euros per year, including cuts in staffing. The initial plans were a success leading to the airline making a profit for the first time in almost two years. Vehviläinen has also begun to invest in the airline’s future by expanding its presence in Asia’s growing market.
More recently, Mika Vehviläinen has been discussing his ambitions for the company to achieve growth and success through a potential merger with another airline. Finnair has already formed Flybe Nordic, a joint venture with the UK airline Flybe. As a separate venture, Finnair is also seeking a new partner airline to form a budget carrier in Northern Europe to rival Norwegian Air Shuttle and has been discussing the prospect with several potential partners.