Finnair drops Singapore and Malaysia in favour of China, India and Japan

[Robert 0]

From Business Traveller:

 

Finnair drops Singapore and Malaysia in favour of China, India and Japan

 

Finnair will add more flights to India, Japan and mainland China this summer. At the same time the Helsinki-based carrier will stop serving Singapore and will abandon plans to inaugurate flights to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

The highlight of Finnair's expansion is the launch of a five times a week service to Mumbai during June. In addition, the current three times a week link to Delhi (launched only a couple of months ago) will move to a daily frequency (see Business Traveller's review of the Helsinki-Delhi route in the February 2007 print edition).

 

Taking the bold step of operating 12 flights a week to India demonstrates that Finnair is planning for the future.

 

"It will be extremely hard, if not impossible, for airlines to secure new arrival and departure slots at Indian airports in coming years," says Henrik Arle, Finnair's deputy CEO for scheduled passenger traffic. "By adding to our Indian scheduled traffic now, Finnair is ensuring its presence in these fast-growing markets."

 

Other expansion plans for mid-May call for Guangzhou in mainland China to see a fourth weekly flight while Hong Kong (presently served four times a week) will move to daily. At the same time the popular service linking Helsinki with Osaka (known as the Manchester of Japan) will go from four a week to daily. Then in mid-June, Finnair will boost its Nagoya service from three to four flights a week.

 

"With 15 flights a week it will make Finnair the third largest Western airline operating between Europe and Japan," says Petteri Kostermaa, Finnair's VP for network strategies and management.

 

But at the same time Singapore (currently served as a continuation of the Helsinki-Bangkok route) will be dropped, and plans to launch a new service to Kuala Lumpur are to be abandoned.

 

The exact start date of the Mumbai service has still to be announced. But schedules show flight AY029 departing Helsinki at 2000 arriving in Mumbai at 0610 the next morning. Return flight AY030 will leave Mumbai at 0815 reaching Helsinki at 1350.

 

Finnair is acquiring two Airbus A340-300s during May and June for its long-haul network. These planes will operate alongside its existing MD-11s.

 

Good connections will be available at Helsinki for connecting passengers coming from cities in Scandinavia and mainland Europe.

 

For more information go to finnair.com.

 

Report by Alex McWhirter

[Chan CS 0]

Oh too bad... Haven't even started... Well anyway hope they'll come back one day later.

[kandiah k 0]

It is indeed sad about AY's decision but I guess they have a good business plan and thats what they need right now.

 

It is strange how this is the second airline to actually drop SIn and at the same time drop KUL like what OS did.

 

 

<_>

[Andrew Yong 0]

Quiete a bad news to KUL spotters!!! Hopefully they will come over KUL one day!!!!

[Cornelis Boersma 0]

According to the Finnair website they are going to introduce Kuala Lumpur and Delhi this year. KUL will be flown from May 2007. Flight departing 23.50lt from Helsinki to KUL. It wil be combined with Bangkok now they are going to drop Singapore as destination which is combined with Bangkok now. Source: www.finnair.com choose location The Netherlands!

Edited January 28, 2007 by Cornelis Boersma

[Pieter C. 5]

Apparently, the Dutch website of AY has not been updated yet

 

Finnair-Helsinki headoffice has said differently = no KUL start-up ...

[Pieter C. 5]

No wonder they won't start new flights to i.e. KUL:

 

Finnair Posts Deeper Q4 Loss

 

February 6, 2007

Finnair reported a deeper-than-expected fall in fourth-quarter operating profit on Tuesday but said it expected a significant improvement in 2007 assuming stable fuel prices.

 

Burdened by restructuring and fuel costs, Finnair sank to an operating loss of EUR24.4 million euros (USD$31.6 million) in October to December from a profit of EUR0.4 million (USD$0.52 million) a year earlier.

 

Finnair said prospects for this year were more positive. "Our outlook is significantly better than in 2006," Chief Executive Jukka Hienonen said. "We are lacking many of the one-off costs we had in 2006. Demand is at a strong level."

 

The company said ticket prices should remain at the 2006 level for domestic and European traffic but rise for long-haul flights.

 

The carrier is in the midst of an EUR80 million (USD$103.6 million) restructuring program and while its profit impact will show in 2008, a large proportion of savings will also be apparent in 2007, Finnair said.

 

CEO Hienonen said the airline had been hurt by a two day strike by cabin crew in October and that its support services operations, particularly in the technical division, had been below expectations.

 

"But the fuel bill is the biggest reason behind the disappointing year," he said, adding that in 2007 Finnair's fuel bill would continue to be at a similar level to 2006, at more than 19 percent of sales.

 

Finnair reported fourth-quarter sales of EUR499.3 million (USD$646.3 million) with a full-year figure of EUR1.99 billion (USD$2.58 billion).

 

It said it has hedged 63 percent of fuel purchases for its scheduled traffic during the next six months, with a decreasing level of hedging thereafter. Finnair has hedged about 80 percent of fuel consumption for its leisure flights, it said.

 

At the end of 2006, Finnair adjusted its hedging policy to extend the horizon to three years from two years.

 

The company also said competition for market share will remain tight in domestic and European traffic.

 

"Work on cutting our loss-making operations will continue this year," Hienonen said.

 

The group will also review the options for its ground-handling subsidiary, Northport, considering a sale or finding a partner.

 

(Reuters)

 

[KK Lee 5]

 

Airlines go where there is profit to be made.

 

[Seth K 3]

Remember I suppose to fly to BKK with Finnair this summer, they rebook us on TG.....................but my dad cancel the flight anyway <_>

[Pieter C. 5]

Early retirement for Finnair's MD-11's

 

Finnair To Acquire More Airbus Planes

 

March 8, 2007

Finnair said on Thursday it had signed a deal to acquire seven Airbus wide-bodied aircraft by 2010, aiming to replace its Boeing MD-11 fleet with A340 and A330 planes.

 

Finnair might also use another four options for planes of those models, which would make a total of 14, to be delivered under terms of its new contract and a deal from 2005. Airbus is part of European aerospace group EADS.

 

The airline said both the orders and the options could be for either A340 or A330 models. Finnair said it could use A330s on its routes to India or on those longer Asian routes which do not have major cargo demands.

 

The company also said it will acquire two more A350s from 2014. It already had nine such planes on order, with an option for four more. It said all of its A350s will be fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

 

Finnair said the value of all of the confirmed aircraft orders is about EUR2 billion euros (USD$2.6 billion), adding that its Boeing MD-11s will be retired from the fleet between 2008 and 2010.

 

(Reuters)

 

[Andrew Ong 1]

Sad to hear that Finnair is retiring their MD-11 fleet

[Andrew Ong 1]

Continuing from Pieter's article about Finnair retiring their MD-11s and buying Airbus aircraft:

 

Finnair, first airline to sign firm contract for the A350XWB

8 March 2007

 

Finnair today signed a firm contract for eleven A350XWBs as well as seven additional long-range aircraft (a mix of A340-300s and A330s). It is the first airline to convert its order for nine of the initial A350, placed in December 2005, into the new A350XWB, and to simultaneously increase the number of aircraft ordered.

 

“We are particularly honoured by this mark of confidence from Finnair, one of Europe’s major airlines. It is an endorsement of the new A350XWB programme. Throughout 2006, Finnair regularly expressed its faith in the product as well as in the Airbus team, and we are extremely pleased to come to this agreement today,” Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, John Leahy said.” I am confident the A350XWB will deliver on its promises and that it will meet Finnair’s requirements in terms of passenger and cargo traffic growth towards Asia and the Far East.”

 

M. Jukka Hienonen, CEO of Finnair underlined: “Having taken into account all competitive and economic factors, we decided to confirm our initial choice for our future growth in long-haul traffic. Commonality with our Airbus A320 single aisle fleet was one of the key drivers in our decision making. Seamless transition from the current long-haul fleet to the new generation A350XWB is safeguarded by the entry into our fleet of the A340s and A330s.”

 

The A350 XWB will be available in three basic passenger versions, the A350-800 which can fly 270 passengers in a spacious three-class configuration up to 8,500nm / 15,750 km, the A350-900 seating 314, and the A350-1000 which is designed for 350 passengers, both with ranges of up to 8,300nm / 15,400 km. The three passenger versions have a cruise speed of Mach 0.85. With a cross section of 232 inches / 5.9 meters, the A350 XWB will benefit from the widest fuselage in its category, offering unprecedented levels of comfort in this market segment. It will also offer the lowest operating costs and lowest seat mile cost of any aircraft in that category. The Family is designed to confront the challenges of high fuel prices, rising passenger expectations, and environmental concerns in that market segment.

 

The A350 XWB will initially be powered by new generation Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines delivering between 75,000 and 95,000lbs of thrust.

 

The new A350 XWB will feature the latest innovations in terms of advanced technologies. Amongst those is the use of all-new, easy to maintain and much lighter Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) paneled fuselage skins. This innovation in manufacturing permits easier maintainability and reparability of individual airframe parts, while also allowing the structure of the panels to be much better optimized in terms of design to the stress and load requirements of each individual airframe part. Over 60 per cent of the airframe will be made of new materials.

 

Airbus is an EADS company.

 

[Pieter C. 5]

Asian Demand Boosts Finnair July Traffic

 

August 7, 2007

Finnish national carrier Finnair's total passenger traffic increased sharply in July, boosted by continued strong growth in demand for flights to Asia as well as within Europe, it said on Tuesday.

 

Finnair's total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 16.5 percent to 1.84 billion in July from the previous year, after an 18 percent climb in June, the company said in a statement.

 

Demand increased around 30 percent in both European and Asian traffic.

 

The carrier's overall passenger load factor fell 2.5 percentage points to 79.7 percent due to new route openings in Asian traffic, Finnair said.

 

For scheduled traffic, Finnair's RPKs were up 24.9 percent and its scheduled load factor was 79.1 percent, down 1 percentage point year-on-year.

 

The airline is due to report its second-quarter earnings on August 9.

 

(Reuters)