Finland's struggling flag carrier Finnair posted a final-quarter operating loss of about 39 million euros on Friday, having been some 14 million in the red in the year-ago period.

Sales fell by about 21 per cent year-on-year to some 458 million euros, with passenger traffic falling by about 15 per cent from the year-ago period.

Mika Vehviläinen, the managing director of Finnair, said in a statement that 2009 had been a difficult year for commercial aviation as a whole.

"For Finnair the situation was made particularly difficult by a sharp fall in domestic demand as well as price competition, due to overcapacity in the sector, on many of our main routes," he added.

STT