Finnair losing CEO to Elisa adds to challenges for flag carrier

Finnair Oyj is starting the search for a new leader after Chief Executive Officer Topi Manner announced his departure late last week, adding to challenges for the Nordic carrier that’s seen its business model upended by the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Manner is leaving to take up the same role at telecommunications service provider Elisa Oyj, whose current CEO is retiring. With no successor in place, Finnair will begin a search for new top executive, it said in a statement late on Friday.

Manner, who joined Finnair at the start of 2019, steered the airline through the twin challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia’s war in Ukraine that closed off Siberian airspace, a route underpinning Finnair strategy to connect Europe with Asia. As a result, the airline is switching to a more diversified long-haul network linking Europe to Asia, India, the Middle East and North America.

“Topi Manner has done a stellar job with his team in leading Finnair through the double crises of the Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of Russian airspace,” Chairwoman Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae said. 

Departing Elisa CEO Veli-Matti Mattila, 62, has led the company since 2003, growing revenue and negotiating more than two dozen acquisitions.