FINNAIR AND TIETOENATOR AGREE ON IT-PARTNERSHIP

Finnair and TietoEnator have signed an agreement on IT-partnership, with the objective of developing Finnair's IT services. The special focus is on producing new, innovative services in the Internet and mobile environments.

'New digital services are changing the entire value chain of air traffic. Finnair wants to be among the first in the world in this field', says Eero Ahola, Director of Finnair's Commercial Division.

Apart from cost effectiveness and a competitive edge over other operators, the new services are aimed at creating totally new demand on the market.

'Even top operative quality is not sufficient for airlines any more. In the future, the real competition will be about the innovativeness of services and products', Ahola says.

The partnership of Finnair and TietoEnator is a realisation of TietoEnator's strategy of combining in-depth IT expertise with an equally profound understanding of the customer's business and revenue logic. Both of these are prerequisites when seeking for new solutions that are pioneering for the entire field of business.

Electronic services are being developed and provided for Finnair's customers and customer service, for journey planning and reservations as well as for handling the actual travel. These are some of the areas where the possibilities of the Internet and mobile technology will be extensively exploited in the future.

Integrating the new service solutions as a functional part of the entire value chain is also one of the considerable challenges facing the new partnership.

Together with outstanding Nordic industries like Telecom and Finance, Travel and Transport represents one of TietoEnator's prioritised sectors. The partnership agreement with Finnair is the latest demonstration of TietoEnator's business concept of contributing to the building of an information society by providing its customers with the possibilities of digital production and distribution.

With a staff of 10,000 and an annual turnover of 1.2 billion euros, TietoEnator is a leading supplier of high value-added IT services in Europe.

TietoEnator provides consulting, systems development and integration, operation and support, product development services for customers as well as software services. The Group has in-depth knowledge of its customers' businesses in selected industries.

Finnair, the Finnish national airline, is a leading e-commerce company in its line of business, having developed several Internet and mobile phone-based services. By 2006, most of the company's revenues are expected to be earned through Internet ticket sales and more than half of the passengers will use the Internet from booking the tickets to check-in. Finnair flies to over 50 destinations abroad and 18 destinations in Finland. The Group has about 11,000 employees and a turnover of 1 593 million euros. Last year the airline carried a total of 7.7 million passengers.