Finnair Appoints New CEO, President

MATTI HUUHTANEN

HELSINKI (AP) — Finnair PLC said Wednesday it has appointed Mika Vehvilainen, the chief operating officer of Nokia Siemens Networks, as president and CEO to replace Jukka Hienonen, who announced his resignation in August in "crisis conditions."

Vehvilainen will take up the new position on Feb. 1 after Hienonen leaves his post, the Finnish airline said.

Finnair stock closed up more than 2 percent at euro3.87 ($5.82) in Helsinki.

The national carrier has been struggling in the recession with declining demand, competition from budget airlines and overcapacity.

Vehvilainen, who has been employed by mobile phone and wireless equipment maker Nokia since 1991, said Finnair "has all that it takes to emerge from the hard times as a winner," but added that workers and managers must cooperate.

"This will require goal-directed development of the business practices," Vehvilainen said. "It will be necessary to improve competitiveness, and management and personnel will have to cooperate closely in this task."

Outgoing Hienonen said in August that he would resign because he was not satisfied with the pace of change in the airline in the challenging times and partly blamed unions for inflexibility.