On Tuesday (26 June) Finnair, a member of oneworld, will launch its newest Indian route with flights to Mumbai.
The city will be served non-stop from Helsinki five days a week with Airbus A340 aircraft. At the same time the airline's current thrice-weekly frequency to the Indian capital Delhi will be increased to daily.
The flights to Mumbai are part of Finnair's Asian strategy. In response to what it claims is strong demand of the Asian market the number of weekly flights to India will increase from the current three to 12. Flights to Finnair's other destinations in Asia have also been continuously increased.
The airline will launch flights to the capital of South Korea,Seoul, in June 2008 with five weekly frequencies. The majority of passengers are expected to be South Korean, especially
during the summer season.
"It will be extremely hard, if not impossible, for airlines to secure new arrival and departure slots at Indian airports in the coming years," says Henrik Arle, Finnair's deputy CEO, responsible for scheduled passenger traffic. "By adding to its Indian scheduled traffic just now, Finnair is ensuring its presence in these fast growing markets."
Altogether Finnair now flies to ten different destinations in Asia: Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong (China); Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya (Japan); Delhi and Mumbai (India) and Bangkok (Thailand).