Finnair India Flying High

     European airlines have been in India for a longer time than those from the U.S.
     Among the carriers who have been steadily ramping up their operations in the country are Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, and even Aeroflot.
     The latest to join the list is Finnair. Since the day it started operations with its thrice a week Delhi-Helsinki flights, the airline has been seeing good business.
     In fact, the response has been so good that the management has gone in for a rethink and the number of flights have increased.
     “From May 19, the Subcontinent will be seeing a daily service from Delhi to Helsinki, five times a week Mumbai-Helsinki flights from June 17 and even a flight from Chennai some time later in the year.”
     However, it is not just passengers that Finnair Indian Subcontinent Director Taina Tornstrom is happy about.
     She is also bullish about cargo.
     Talking to FlyingTypers, she pointed out that her airline was seriously looking at cargo as a business from India.
     “But there will not be separate cargo flights, as others have been doing,” she was quick to add.
     “For the moment, each of the Finnair flights have been carrying 20 tons from Delhi.
     “The MD-11, which is being used for the flights, can carry up to 20 tons,”
      Whatever anyone else might say about the MD-11, Ms. Tornstrom is full of praises for the plane.
     “It is a very good aircraft.
     “You can combine a full passenger load with cargo. We carry a lot of garments, perishables.”
     She believes that there are a lot of opportunities for India to do business with Finland. She has her reasons:
     “You know, in Scandinavia nothing grows in the winter. So I think we would have a lot of opportunities in the future,” she said.

Adding A340 500s to long range routes.

     The director knows India well. She visited India for the first time ten years ago. It was around that time that the airline started looking at India as a possible destination for Finland. Though nothing much came out from that visit, finally in 2005 Finnair got really serious about India. She stayed for the whole month of May that year in Mumbai and finally moved to India on April 1, 2006.
     “There was a chance ten years ago, but then there were some other destinations like China. We started Beijing in 1988 and then we went to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong. But our plans moved along.
     “I think it is a good time to be in India now.
     “In January, the third month of our operation we were over 85 percent load factor.”
     Welcoming the competition from the other European carriers, Ms. Tornstrom feels that Finnair “offers good value for money.
     “You pay for what you get. We think our service is very good value for money.
     “Air travelers and shippers prefer Helsinki Gateway, when compared to London or Frankfurt, because it is compact and manageable, very smooth with everything under one roof.
     “Add to that, great connections to Russia and the Baltics.”
     "Finnair wants to grow in India. The Finns are becoming quite aware of the country.
     “Finns and other Northern European people love discovering new places and they have several holidays in a year.
     “We have seen that the response is very good and people are coming in a very big way to India,” she said.
     “For Finnair, the next big expansion plans will be in South India, which is becoming an important destination for Finland with mobile phone giant Nokia setting up its manufacturing facility in Chennai.”
     Bangalore could be next with the increasing cooperation in software between Indian and Finnish companies.
Tirthankar Ghosh