Finland's national carrier Finnair on Wednesday reported a ninth consecutive quarter of loss after the closure of Russian airspace added to struggles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finnair, which relies on connection flights to Asia, has been hit hard by prolonged Asian travel restrictions due to the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as well as by rising expenses from the closure of Russian airspace.

Its first-quarter operating loss widened to 164.9 million euros ($175.57 million) from 149.1 million a year earlier.

($1 = 0.9392 euros)

(Reporting by Essi Lehto and Anne Kauranen; editing by Jason Neely)