Finnair and TAP Portugal announced today the companies will start code-share cooperation on flights between Portugal and Finland. Cooperation begins on April 20, 2012, and customers can immediately make reservations on these new flights.

With this code-share agreement, Finnair’s code will be added to TAP’s direct flights between Lisbon and Helsinki. This is an attractive additional destination for Finnair customers, including customers flying to Europe via Helsinki from Finnair’s eleven Asian destinations.

Additionally, new connection opportunities between Helsinki and Lisbon will be made available through new combined code-share services over intermediate points in Europe, such as Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva and Zurich, with TAP code added to the flights between Helsinki and these cities, and Finnair code added to the flights to and from Lisbon.

The new code-share services will bring further convenience to customers of both airlines by giving access to a wider flight selection range, one-ticket itineraries, consecutive boarding pass issuance and baggage through check-in.

TAP started direct operations between Lisbon and Helsinki on June 2010.

Finnair Plc Press release 18/04/2012

Finnair summer schedule offers new destinations and increased frequencies

Finnair’s summer traffic schedule, coming into effect on March 25, includes flights to some familiar summer destinations, more frequencies to various other destinations and an exciting new seasonal destination, Dubrovnik. In May Finnair also starts year-round flights to a completely new Asian destination, Chongqing in China.

Finnair flights to Dubrovnik on Croatia’s southern coast are launching on April 2 and will continue until the end of the summer timetable period on October 27. The new direct flight to Chongqing opens on May 9 and operates four times per week through the year. Finnair is the first airline to operate non-stop flights between Europe and Chongqing.

Popular destinations back in the schedule for the summer are:
•Krakow, whose old town is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, from April 9 to October 25
•Venice, perennial favourite and holiday destination, March 29 to October 25
•Ljubljana, the jewel of Slovenia, April 9 to October 25
•Bergen, the charming city on Norway’s west coast, from May 20 to September 28
•Toronto, Canada’s biggest city and gateway to the fabulous Niagara Falls, May 24 to September 10
•Chicago, launched last summer as a code share with American Airlines, June 15 to October 27.

Extra frequencies will be added to the following flights:
•Flights to Tokyo are increased to 10 per week as of May 31
•Flights to Vilnius are increased to 18 per week from 25 June to 12 August
•Flights to Barcelona are increased to 9 per week from June 28 to August 10
•Flights to Budapest and Prague are operated twice daily over the summer.

Finnair 20/03/2012

LSG Sky Chefs, the world’s largest provider of in-flight services, and Finnair have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on LSG Sky Chefs acquiring Finnair’s catering operations. The acquisition would comprise the entire share capital of Finnair Catering Ltd. and Finncatering Ltd. Finnair would continue to buy its flight catering services from Finnair Catering Ltd., which transfers under LSG Sky Chefs ownership. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Lufthansa Board and the competition authority of Finland and it is expected to be closed by the end of first half of 2012.

"LSG Sky Chefs is one of the leading players in the in-flight service industry. Its international product development, global operations and profound know-how of in-flight services are an excellent basis for producing high-quality in-flight service for Finnair customers. We have positive experiences with LSG Sky Chefs from other airports outside Finland and this is a natural continuation of our partnership", says Anssi Komulainen, Senior Vice President of Customer Service at Finnair.

“Together with other measures taken to improve efficiency in catering operations of our airline business, we expect this transaction to result in substantial permanent annual cost savings contributing to our overall savings targets.”

"LSG Sky Chefs is extremely pleased to be able to widen its operations to the strategically important Finnish market. Finnair’s catering operations are well run, the personnel is very professional and the production facilities are state-of-the art. Finnair is an important client for us and we are convinced that we can further develop the operations, thus producing additional value for Finnair and its passengers", states Jochen Müller, Executive Board Member Operations of LSG Sky Chefs.

In 2010, the catering business included in the Memorandum of Understanding had net sales of 80 million euro. Subject to the final agreement, approximately 650 employees of Finnair Catering Ltd and Finncatering Ltd will be employed by LSG Sky Chefs. The transaction does not include Finnair Travel Retail, which as of January 1, 2012 has been a part of Finnair’s other operations.

Developing its partnership network is a part of Finnair’s strategy and the planned structural changes of the company, which aim at cost savings and facilitating growth through quality improvements. Finnair had announced earlier that it was looking for a cooperation partner for its catering services.

LSG Sky Chefs is the world’s largest provider of in-flight services. These include catering, in-flight equipment and logistics, in-flight retail as well as the management of onboard service and related airport services. LSG Sky Chefs partners with more than 300 airlines worldwide and operates some 200 customer service centers in 50 countries, producing around 460 million airline meals a year. In 2010, the companies belonging to LSG Sky Chefs Group achieved consolidated revenues of € 2.2 billion. For further information also visit www.lsgskychefs.com

Finnair announced on August 5, 2011 that it targeted decreases in its annual costs of 140 million euros by 2014. Finnair has already announced that it:

• has chosen Swissport as its partner for baggage and apron services
• is optimizing the size of its fleet in European air traffic, has discontinued the leases of four Airbus 320 series aircraft, and subleased four Embraer 170 aircraft
• is exploring different alternatives to improve cost-efficiency of its engine and component maintenance services
• is streamlining its support functions as well as marketing and distribution activities
• seeks a partner to accelerate its Nordic Champion strategy and aims to significantly lower costs in European traffic
• has initiated numerous other savings measures throughout the company.

Finnair 12/03/2012

Finnair has signed a codeshare agreement with Bangkok Airways. The new co-flights offer better connections to destinations in Thailand for passengers flying Finnair's direct flights to Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore.

"Finnair's daily flights from Helsinki to Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong are now offering a smooth connecting directly to Koh Samui. We operate to Bangkok, and offer a direct connection Northern Thailand, to Chiang Mai and to the south to Phuket," says Hannu Sundberg, Director of Airline Partnerships.

Co-operation with daily flights between Bangkok-Samui, Bangkok, Phuket, Bangkok-Chiang Mai, Samui-Singapore and Hong Kong-Samui will have both Finnair (AY) and Bangkok Airways (PG) flight numbers.

Bangkok Airways is the only Asian airline that has won the Skytrax classification Best Regional Airline award for six years in a row.

Finnair flies daily and, during the winter season, twice daily to Bangkok, which is one of its most popular Asian destinations. Other Asian destinations are Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chongqing (as of this coming spring), Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Seoul, Singapore and Delhi.

Finnair, 24/02/2012

The first narrow-body cabin refitting with fresh new-look seating and interiors has been carried out on an Airbus A319, and the aircraft also bears the sleek new livery of Finnair’s revamped brand identity. The plan is for all narrow-bodied aircraft to be fitted out by spring 2013. The A319 received its new external and internal look along with a state-of-the-art digital entertainment system at Finnair Technical Services’ hangar 6 at Helsinki Airport in January, with its first flight setting off to Milan on Friday February 10.



“New-look seating, floor matting, cabin walls and blinds were all installed in the cabins,” explains Mika Dahlberg, systems manager of Operation Maintenance. “The aircraft’s service areas and aft toilets have been arranged in a new way too. This is the first aircraft in which the new interior design is visible in its entirety.”

The aim is for all Airbus A320 family planes – A319s, A320s, and A321s – to receive the new interiors by spring 2013.

The new interiors are lighter in colour shade than before and reflect Finnair’s success factors of quality, freshness and creativity.

“It’s naturally important that our narrow-body aircraft fleet bears the new identity,” says Taru Kettunen, Brand Manager. “We want to create a cabin environment that offers light and peace of mind, in a colour scheme that is echoed in our cabin crew’s new blue and white uniforms.”

Cabin space has also been made more efficient without compromising on leg space, cutting back on the weight of seating by as much as 1,000 kilos. This reduction leads to lower fuel consumption which in turn represents a cut in carbon dioxide emissions.

Finnair Newsletter 24/02/2012