Finnair proposes to add Chennai, Bangalore to its radar

Helsinki: With a host of Finnish companies like Nokia having their hubs in Chennai and Bangalore, Nordic carrier Finnair soon proposes to add these two cities to its schedule as part of a larger strategy to expand in Asia, a top official said.
“Direct air connectivity will also help bring Indian information technology and telecom professionals from India to our country,” said Christer Haglund, senior vice-president for public affairs with Finnair.
“Chennai and Bangalore are on our radar for starting direct flights from Helsinki. There has been an increasing traffic of telecom and software professions from these southern cities of India to Finland,” Haglund told IANS.
The Nordic carrier, however, has indefinitely put on hold the proposal to resume flights between Mumbai and Helsnki. The Helsinki-Mumbai service was scheduled to re-start this Diwali after its suspension in August last year.
“The Mumbai-Helsinki sector has not been a particularly profitable route. So, we have not set any date for Mumbai operations to resume. But, as I said, we have these other destinations in mind.”
Haglund said Finnair was keen to expand in India and that was the reason why the frequency of New Delhi-Helsinki service was expanded to a daily operation since September against four days a week earlier.
The airline had commenced flights to Delhi in October 2006.
According to the Finnair official, due to losses sustained by the carrier — as has been the case with other airlines worldwide — any decision on adding new routes will not be taken in a hurry.
12/12/09 Sanjay Singh/IANS

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Categories: Airports Dec 2009, Foreign Dec 2009