Newstrack

Finnair reduces flights for winter schedule

Appoints Bird Group as GSA in 10 locations

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

After an impressive start to its Indian portfolio of 13 flights a week in a matter of two years, Finnair has decided to slow down and reduce the number of flights to the country during its winter schedule this year. Elaborating on this to Express TravelWorld, Kari Stolbow, the newly appointed director (Indian subcontinent) for the airline said, "We are in the middle of renewing our fleet and are phasing out old aircraft faster than inducting new ones. This has resulted in us reducing flights to Mumbai from six to four and similarly in Delhi from seven to six." Daily flights to Delhi will resume again in May 2009.

The carrier has also changed its departure time in Delhi from night to morning, therefore being more favoured by businessmen as they arrive early the next morning in Helsinki. According to Stolbow, the carrier is presently enjoying 85 to 90 per cent average load factors on its flights to India, though the traffic from Helsinki to India is still not as good as was expected. He added, "India is important and we have plans to stay. Our strategy is to become the most popular airline between Northern Europe and Asia and we will soon have a new axis of North America and South Asia by 2010." Also with the pullout of Alitalia from the Indian market, Finnair is also eyeing traffic to Italy via Helsinki with connections to Rome, Milan and Venice.

Considering 2008 has been a bad year for airlines, Finnair, which recently celebrated its 85th anniversary, expects a 20 per cent growth from the Indian market this year, as compared to 30 per cent last year. "Though we are still growing, it is not as fast as the last year," Stolbow admitted adding that, "the end of this year will be challenging considering fuel cost today is much higher than what it was a year ago. From our results, we know that the growth won't be as good as what it was."

To continue its high sales, the airline has also appointed the Bird Group as its GSA in ten locations - Jalandhar, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kochi - and is playing a wait-and-watch game as other airlines start implementing a zero per cent commission policy. Stolbow remarked, "We have not announced anything on this issue as yet but will eventually do so as other airlines announce their plans."