Finnair to Expand Long-Haul Fleet

Finnair is to acquire two 270-seat Airbus A340 wide-bodied aircraft to meet its growing long-haul traffic needs. The aircraft will be acquired on lease agreements of around four years from the leasing company ILFC. The aircraft will join the Finnair fleet in late 2010 and early 2011.

"We have recently announced an increase in Asian traffic and we need additional capacity. This decision will enable us to satisfy growth needs until we take delivery of the new generation Airbus A350 aircraft," said Finnair President & CEO Mika Vehviläinen.

Finnair currently has 12 Airbus long-haul aircraft, which fly to nine destinations in Asia as well as to New York in North America. At the end of this year, one further new Airbus A330 aircraft, ordered earlier, will join the fleet. With the coming additions, Finnair's long-haul fleet will grow to a total 15 Airbus aircraft by the beginning of next year.

"All of our Airbus long-haul aircraft have an excellent business class with lie-flat or full-flat seats. Moreover, we can use the long-haul aircraft flexibly on long scheduled traffic and leisure flights, depending on the season. This ensures the most efficient possible use of the aircraft at different times of the year," Mika Vehviläinen added.

Next May, Finnair will open a daily direct route to Singapore. Finnair will also increase direct flights to Hong Kong. Instead of the earlier seven flights, Finnair will fly to Hong Kong with a frequency of 12 flights per week from June next year.

During spring 2011, more frequencies will be added to the other current Asian destinations.

Out of Finnair's 61 aircraft 34 are owned and 27 leased, ten from ILFC.

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