When we talk about aviation and global warming, we often only think about carbon dioxide emissions. However, the reality is more complicated. In addition to carbon dioxide, there are other greenhouse gases, and in aviation, water vapour has a special effect. Ice crystal clouds, contrails, have a significant impact on global warming high in the atmosphere by reflecting Earth's thermal radiation back to the Earth at night. The warming effect of these contrails can be influenced by changing flight paths and using aviation fuel that burns more cleanly.

Finnair takes this challenge seriously. From 2025, European regulations require airlines to monitor and report the climate impacts of non-CO₂ emissions. In 2025, Finnair has set itself the goal of developing a systematic approach to the optimisation of contrails while taking into account fuel consumption, safety and cost-effectiveness.

Our key actions to reduce non-CO₂ emissions

• Monitoring and reporting: We use the EU's NEATS system for reporting and calculating non-CO₂ emissions, through which the impact of emissions can be reported transparently in accordance with regulatory requirements. The first reporting and calculation will take place in the first half of 2026, after which Finnair will have verified information on the climate impacts of non-CO₂ emissions for the first time.
• Contrail avoidance: We test and expand our capabilities to automatically avoid long-living contrails. This still requires a strong contribution from software developers to get functional capabilities for the current flight planning and optimisation software on the market.     
• Innovation and partnerships: We collaborate with leading climate technology partners to develop smarter solutions for flight planning and emission control.
• Continuous improvement: We collect and analyse data and feedback to refine our approach and maximise climate benefits.