PRESS RELEASE : Flybe, the UK's largest domestic airline and Europe's largest regional airline today announced that it has reached agreement with Finnair PLC to provide regional services in Scandinavian and Baltic Sea Areas 5th August 2010 This exciting co-operation will begin October 31st 2010 with Flybe commencing services to key Scandinavian and Baltic markets from Helsinki airport that will include Tampere, Turku and Tallinn.
This service provision is expected to grow beyond three aircraft in the summer of 2011.Flybe and Finnair have also agreed to begin discussions on a potential wider co-operation agreement, which could see Flybe providing a range of services across Nordic and Baltic Sea markets.Jim French, Chairman and CEO commented: "This is an exciting time for Flybe and this is a further exciting development.
Finnair is one of Europe's oldest, most respected and dynamic airlines. We look forward to serving the Scandinavian and Baltic markets in partnership with Finnair. We also look forward to exploring deeper co-operation with Finnair to develop Nordic market entry strategies."Ville Iho, Finnair's Senior Vice President Resources Management commented: "Flybe is highly suitable as a co-operation partner in our South and Central Finland traffic. The company's fleet and production structure support the operation of short routes. Expanding our co-operation base will give us flexibility to modify our feeder traffic network according to needs. Flybe is a potential partner as we strengthen our position on our home market in Scandinavia and in the Baltic Sea area."
Finnair is one of the world's oldest operating airlines, was established on 1st November, 1923. Its operations focus on transporting passengers between Europe and Asia, via Helsinki. Finnair Group operations cover scheduled passenger traffic and leisure traffic, technical and ground handling operations, catering, travel agencies as well as travel information and reservation services. The subsidiaries provide air traffic support services or operate in closely related areas.
Finnair's major shareholder is the Finnish government with a 55.8% holding. Other shareholders include insurance companies, various companies and private individuals. Approximately 20 per cent of the shares are owned by foreign shareholders. In recent years, Finnair has emerged as a major player in traffic between Europe and Asia. Finnair's intercontinental destinations in Asia include Seoul in South Korea, Delhi in India, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in Japan and Bangkok in Thailand. Finnair's European route network offers several daily frequencies to all major European cities. Timetables are built in such a way that the offer quick connections to the Asian flights.
Finnair also flies to 12 destinations within Finland. The domestic route network is one of the densest in the world in relation to population. In addition to regular scheduled traffic, Finnair operates leisure flights to more than 60 destinations. Leisure traffic flies mainly to holiday resorts in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, South-East Asia as well in the Caribbean and South America. The Finnair fleet comprises more than 60 aircraft.
The long-haul fleet comprises Airbus A340, A330, and starting 2014, new technology Airbus A350XWB aircraft. Finnair operates one of Europe's youngest and most eco-efficient narrow-body fleets. It comprises Airbus A320 family aircraft, Embraer 170s and Embraer 190s. Finnair is operating only three types of aircraft in scheduled traffic as the wide-bodied Airbus serves long-haul destinations. Leisure flights are operated with Boeing 757s. During the calendar year 2009 Finnair carried a total of 7 433 000 passengers.
- Flybe is Europe's largest and most successful regional airline with 203 routes serving 13 countries, operating from a total of 70 departure points, 38 UK and 32 European airports* (on sale for Summer/Winter '10)
- Flybe is the UK's Number One Domestic Airline - carrying more UK domestic passengers than any other airline; carrying more domestic passengers at London Gatwick than any other airline and operating over four times more domestic routes than any other airline (CAA statistics - June 09-June ‘10)
- Flybe is the only UK carrier to feature in the prestigious US-published Forbes magazine Top 10 on time arrival list of Global Major Carriers 2009. Flybe won both Best Short-Haul Airline and Best Environmental accolades at the 2010 Business Travel Awards. Other recent awards include: Air Transport World's 2009 Regional Airline of the Year; Aviation Week's Overhaul & Maintenance (O&M) European Airline MRO of the Year (Flybe's aircraft maintenance division); the ‘Most Environmentally and Socially Responsible Budget Airline' Award at The British Travel Awards 2009 for the second year running; and the 2008 Regional Leadership Award at the Global Airline Strategy Awards
- Flybe's codeshare agreement with Air France will give Flybe passengers access to five additional routes between the UK and France, seven new domestic French routes and 11 international routes from Autumn 2010. Air France codeshare customers will gain access to 45 new routes from France to the UK and seamless connections through Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton to 17 UK domestic routes.
- Flybe placed a multi-billion dollar order with Embraer in July 2010 for up to 140 Embraer 175 and E-family aircraft, with the first delivery scheduled for 2011. Flybe is the largest scheduled airline, measured by air traffic movements, at Belfast City, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Manchester, Norwich, Southampton and Southend airports (CAA statistics - June ‘10)
- Flybe's Training Academy in Exeter, costing £11.9-million to construct, is scheduled to open in 2010. Flybe launched the aviation industry's first ever eco labelling scheme in 2007
- Flybe offers the UK's first low cost customer loyalty scheme open to all passengers Rewards4all Flybe signed a landmark franchise Agreement with Loganair, the Scottish regional airline, in January 2008- the first of its kind ever for a low cost carrier In July 2010, Flybe announced a significant and sizeable codeshare agreement with Air France, to commence in October 2010.
* Flown under the Flybe brand, of which 26 routes, 10 airports and one country are exclusively served by Flybe's franchise partner, Loganair.