FINLAND: Finnair Steady Growth

Finnair Chief Executive Officer, Topi Manner, started his speech by stating that the goal of the carrier now is to deliver sustainable, profitable growth, as the airline moves forward from its previous phase of accelerated growth.

Finnair, while it’s home market is fairly small, as Finland only has more than 5.5 million people living in the country, the airline and its main hub, Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL), became a connecting point between Europe and Asia.

We are also a big, small airline in a sense that we are big enough to do things, we are small enough to get them implemented, the airline’s CEO said, adding that we are agile, we are known to have made courageous and determined decisions.

Like the decision to become the launch customer for the Airbus A350 in Europe. Previously, Finnair also became the global launch customer of the ATR 72 and the MD-11.

Some of these bold decisions are also to be made going forward, notes Manner. So, where does Finnair go next

Helsinki (HEL) became a connecting point between Europe and Asia for Finnair and it would further strengthen ties between Finland and Asia, as the shortest northern route is available due to the optimal geographical position of Helsinki, the airline’s CEO stated.

In the past five years, Manner noted, Finnair doubled its capacity to Asia. Interestingly enough, 50% of the carrier’s revenues come from transfer passengers, while local traffic contributes 30%. 73% of the transferring passengers are from Asia, the airline’s data shows.

And Finnair plans to grow further in the continent by focusing on Asian megacities, such as Beijing, China or Tokyo, Japan, where the company plans to further increase frequencies, rather than adding more destinations in Asia.

Its current business model allows it to be placed between the giant airlines on one hand and low-cost carriers on the other hand, Manner says.

But low-cost carriers, namely Norwegian Air Shuttle, offer no resistance to Finnair in Scandinavia the only two destinations the long-haul low-cost carrier serves are Thailand, namely Bangkok (BKK) and Krabi (KBV), meaning Finnair has absolutely no pressure from the lower price point.

The only other local competitor in Northern Europe is Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), which flies to Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.

The Finnish airline announced that it would introduce Premium Economy class cabin to further diversify its product on board in 2020. Finnair’s costs in fuel have been growing faster than its revenues, the company’s presentation highlighted, with the former growing by 6.1% since 2014, while the latter has grown 5.5% since 2018.

A premium economy cabin would allow Finnair to cater to the demand of the passengers and offer more comfort, as the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, Piia Karhu, has highlighted by stating that over 50% of leisure and business class passengers responded that they would very likely or extremely likely travel on the newest cabin offering.

For Finnair itself, Premium Economy makes for very valuable real estate, Karhu said, as the airline is able to sell Premium Economy seats from one and a half to two times higher than basic economy prices, improving yields.

The airline plans to invest between $3.8-4.4 billion (€3.5-4 billion) into its fleet and other assets until 2025. Some of that investment would go into the growth, but most of it would be dedicated to the replacement of its aging fleet.

The average age of Finnair’s 83 aircraft is 10.2 years, with its narrow-body fleet, especially the Airbus A319 (eight aircraft) and the Airbus A320 (10 aircraft), being by far the oldest aircraft that the carrier operates, with an average age of 18.6 and 17.4 per aircraft, respectively.

As of October 30, 2019, Finnair only has five Airbus A350 aircraft on order and no other jets planned, Airbus Order and Deliveries file states.

Over the next six years, the Helsinki-based company plans to operate 100 aircraft in total, with approximately 30 of those being wide-bodies.

Ole Orvér, the Chief Commercial Officer of the company, did not specify any concrete plans about Finnair’s future fleet, however, stated that while the airline was happy with its current narrow-body fleet, not necessarily the same could be said in the future.

Going forward, we will have something that brings low cost, efficient operations and of course a customer proposition that works, Orver said, but whether Finnair will switch to a single type of short-haul aircraft, he was reluctant to answer, stating that it is purely down to price.

During 2019, the airline announced new partnerships with Fiji Airways and China Southern Airlines to further increase capacity and route offerings into Asia, including its existing oneworld alliance agreements with Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, SriLankan Airlines and Qantas.

Furthermore, the Finnish carrier plans to operate more than 100 weekly flights to Asia in Summer 2020. Newest destinations in 2019 include Beijing’s newest airport, Daxing International (PKX), Sapporo, Japan (CTS), while Busan, South Korea (PUS) and Haneda International Airport (HND) in Tokyo, Japan are set to be inaugurated in March 2020.

Currently, the airline has two main time banks when long-haul flights depart, between 5 and 10 AM and between 3 and 7 PM, with some flights departing around midnight.

In 2020, Finnair plans to offer midday departures, to allow smoother connections for transferring passengers. Following the expanded time banks, the airline will utilize its assets in a more efficient way, notes Ole Orvér.

All in all, Finnair’s goals are clear as the snow up in Lapland – expanding into the ever-growing Asian market and securing crucial slots and time windows to land or depart from the busiest airports in the region.

Finnair will hold the monopoly on direct flights between Busan, PUS and Sapporo for now, as no other European airline serves these two Asian cities.

However, the question remains how sustainable this model is long-term, even if the airline secures the limited capacity into the future, as current industry trends are shying away from the hub-and-spoke model and instead focusing on point-to-point traffic.

Nevertheless, the current conditions that Finnair operates in, including its top of the line wide-body fleet of 14 Airbus A350 and eight Airbus A330 aircraft, allows it to be the dominant airline on the Siberian air corridor, a crucial junction between Europe, China and Japan.

The fact that most of its passenger revenues come from transferring travelers, mitigates the risk of low-cost carriers putting a strain on the airline’s earnings on intra-European flights, as passengers are fed through its hub in Helsinki to connect either to or from Asia.

Safe And Unsafe Airlines

AEROFLOT OR ANY RUSSIAN AIRLINE

Russian airlines lead the world in crashes and fatalities. The only air disasters in the past ten years that stole the headlines from missing Malaysian Air flights were catastrophic Russian crashes which wiped out the Polish government, a hockey team, and hundreds of vacationers to Egypt.

Aeroflot is Russia’s flag carrier, and it has an ominous record as the airline with the most crashes in the world.

Today Aeroflot is modern and safe and hasn’t had a major incident since 2008, but the list of other Russian airlines, including S7 and Siberian Air and Nordstar, with huge crashes, is too hard to ignore. If you’re flying in or out of Russia, take Finnair.

AIR NEW ZEALAND

Air New Zealand was rated as the safest airline in the world by Skytrax for 2017, the third year in a row they won this prestigious, and important, award.

This is New Zealand’s flag carrier and they have flights to destinations mostly in Asia, but also to the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. The only incident they’ve had is when a flight carrying pilots, technicians, and a safety inspector crashed into the ocean in 2008.

Otherwise, Air New Zealand has never lost a civilian passenger, joining the ranks of Air Canada for the safest airline. With fewer accidents, crashes, and deaths than any other airline, rest easy when you’re traveling on Air New Zealand!

PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES

Pakistan's flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, is one of the most messed-up airlines in the world. The airline has a near-zero rating fromairlinereviews.com and is in the top 10 least safe airlines in the Skytrax annual review.

The airline has suffered many crashes resulting in fatalities every single year since they were founded in 1947, and when they’re not crashing or blowing up mid-air, they have a long list of minor accidents caused by pilot negligence and lack of ground maintenance.

FINNAIR

Finland’s largest airline and flag carrier has an impeccable safety record.They haven’t had a fatality since 1963, and have had few mishaps and accidents than any other airline in the world since then.

There were a couple of hijackings and attempts at bombing a Finnair airline, but these were all dealt with efficiently by authorities and passengers and crew were unharmed.

Finnair keeps a fleet of modern, well-maintained aircraft crewed by excellent pilots and professional flight attendants. If you’re flying anywhere in Europe, you can’t go wrong with Finnair.

MALAYSIAN AIRLINES

Malaysian Airlines has had a bad decade. Several large airline disasters have captured the world’s media attention, including the disappearance of Flight 370 in 2014.

What seems like such a shock to the world was no surprise to airline safety agencies and industry watchdogs, such as airlinereviews.com. Malaysian Airlines has a history of minor crashes, unsafe maintenance, corporate corruption and half-trained pilots and aircrew.

When several planes went down more recently, it was a culmination of a bad corporate culture that resulted in one of the most unsafe airlines in the world.

BRITISH AIRWAYS

British Airways was founded in 1974 by a government commission and has since grown to become the largest carrier in the UK. British Airways is one of the safest airlines in the world and hasn’t lost a passenger since 1976 when Flight 476 collided with another aircraft on takeoff, hurting 63 people on board.

This is the only time British Airways has had fatalities. Their pilots and crew are top-notch, and thanks to their fantastic skills several notable disasters have been avoided, like when Flight 900 flew through a volcanic ash cloud and the pilots glided the aircraft to a safe landing.

Qr the time a windshield blew out and the pilot was sucked out of the aircraft, but hung on while the co-pilot landed the plane safely. Nobody was hurt.

AIR INDIA

Air India is an Indian government owned airline founded in 1932. It has a dubious safety record, with a habit of exploding in mid-air.

Thankfully modern security screening has drastically reduced airline bombings around the world, but that doesn’t stop things like Air India flights randomly catching fire, or skidding off the runway, or simply driving into parked airplanes at the terminal loading docks.

Skytrax rates Air India as one of the least safe airlines due to a lot of negligence-caused accidents on the part of pilots, aircrew, and ground maintenance.

AIR CANADA

Air Canada has a proud and long history as one of the safest airlines in the world. Canada’s flag carrier was founded in 1937 and has never had a single fatality in all that time. They have flights to 207 cities around the world, making them one of the top 10 largest airlines and one of the top five oldest.

They’ve had the odd mishap, like in 2017 when the pilot accidentally turned off his radio while coming into San Francisco International Airport and landed on a runway full of taxiing airplanes.

This was the most serious incident in the airlines, history, and nobody was hurt. The pilot was suspended and the airline launched a full investigation. Air Canada flights are modern, well-maintained, and professional.

THAI AIRWAYS

Thailand’s national carrier has had a tough run as a world-class airline. They try really, really hard to be safe, but bad things just keep happening. In 2001 an entire wing blew up thanks to a fuel leak, resulting in one death on board.

In 2009 a flight crash-landed on a runway, while another plane dove into a rice paddy in 1998, killing everyone on board. For the most part, Thai Airways is safe, as they’ve had very few fatalities.

It’s just that things keep blowing up or falling off their airplanes, which shows a lack of maintenance and, as is usually the case with airlines from the developing world, corporate corruption which stops new parts and aircraft from reaching the fleet.

CATHAY PACIFIC

Cathay Pacific was one of the most luxurious airlines in the world at one point, winning the coveted “best airline” year after year. It has since fallen from the top spot, replaced by newcomers such as Qatar Airlines and Emirates.

Cathay Pacific still holds on to its stellar safety record, however. Hong Kong’s flag carrier reaches destinations around the world, and its last disaster was in 1972 when a bomb took down a flight, which can’t really be held against the company.

Their airplanes are known to be well-maintained and crewed by professionals, and their customer service is the best in all of Asia!

JETSTAR PACIFIC

Jetstar Pacific is a budget-airline out of Vietnam. Officially called Jetstar Pacific Airlies Joint Stock Aviation Company, this airline is near the bottom of Skytrax’s annual airline safety list.

According to aeroinside.com, which tracks airline incidents, Jetstar Pacific has had numerous safety incidents including tail strikes on takeoff, when the plane rotates the nose up to takeoff, the pilot is supposed to lift the plane off the ground or the tail will smash into the runway, known as a tail strike.

Other reports include landing gear malfunctions, noxious fumes in the cabin, and failure to pass a safety inspection at an Australian airport.

LUFTHANSA

Lufthansa was founded in the 1920s and then regrown after World War II and is one of the largest airlines in the world today. You can catch a Lufthansa flight to pretty much anywhere in Europe, and rest confident that you’ll actually get there alive. The airline isn’t without incidents, however.

Between 1959 and 1993, Lufthansa had several major accidents resulting in fatalities. The past 25 years have been very safe, with no fatalities and very few accidents. Although they are expensive, you’re getting what you pay for when you choose to fly with Lufthansa.

EGYPTAIR

Egyptair is Egypt’s national airline, with flights to nearly a hundred countries around the world. It’s also rated by Skytrax as one of the ten least safe airlines.

Even if you discount the company’s disasters, such as Flight 804 flying into the Mediterranean in 2016, or Flight 990 flying head-first into the Atlantic in the 90s, you still have an airline with a long history of mishaps.

In 2016 a plan caught fire while sitting on the runway. Another’s engine fell off during takeoff. There have been multiple hijackings of Egyptair flights in recent years, which makes for an uncomfortable vacation.

EMIRATES

Emirates has a decent safety record. They’ve never had a fatality on any of their flights, although they have had several mishaps on takeoff and landing.In 2004, and again in 2009, Emirates flights ran out of runway and plowed through landing lights and fences.

Nobody was hurt, but come on, really?In both cases, the investigators blamed the pilots for not lifting off and blamed Emirates for not giving the pilots enough rest between flights.

The odds of such an exciting start to your travels are rare, so instead sit back and enjoy Emirates world-famous comfort and service.

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES

Philippine Airlines is the flag carrier of The Philippines and is also one of the safest Filipino-operated airlines.Unfortunately, they aren’t the safest in the world, with a string of accidents, most of them minor.

Philippine Airlines flights have also been targeted by terrorists in the past, with al-Qaeda blowing up an airliner in 2007, and local extremists knocking down local propeller-driven craft now and again.

For the most part, you’ll survive your flight with these guys, but they still remain accident prone. Engines seize up mid-flight, landing gear doesn’t retract, planes fall off the runway, minor stuff.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

Asian-based airlines seem to have a fantastic safety record. Eva, Cathay Pacific, and Singapore Airlines are all represented in the top 10 safest airlines in the world.Singapore Airlines isn’t without incidents, however.

In 1991 Pakistani militants hijacked Flight 117, until Singapore Special Forces stormed the aircraft and freed all the passengers while dispatching all the terrorists.

In 2000, Flight 006 took off from the wrong runway in Taiwan and crashed into some construction equipment, and 86 people lost their lives. There haven’t been any other fatalities in the airline's history and they’ve had an accident-free 18 years!

CHINA AIR

China Airlines is the largest air carrier in China and is partially government owned. If you’re heading to China, chances are you’ll end up booked on a China Air flight.

They fly to more than a hundred cities around the world, and is considered the 10th largest airline in the world! China Air also has one of the worst safety records of all the major airlines, with more than 30 catastrophic crashes and hundreds of minor accidents.

Most of their pilots are well-trained and come from a military background, but it seems that the aircraft themselves are not well maintained, and the company tends to skimp on spending the money necessary to keep their fleet safe.

EVA AIR

Eva Air is a Taiwanese airline launched in 1989. They have one of the best safety records of all the Asian airlines, and to date has not had a single aircraft incident or passenger fatality.If you’re flying Eva Air you can rest assured that you’re in good hands.

I’ve never flown Eva, but passenger reviews online tell a story of friendly, professional treatment, comfortable flights and average food.If you’re heading anywhere in Asia, try Eva Air. At the very least you’ll get there alive.

CUBANA

Cubana Airlines is considered one of the most accident-prone airlines in the world, with an accident rating 60 times higher than British Airways! Cubana is Cuba’s national airline, wholly owned by the Communist government.

It was founded in 1930 as a subsidiary of Pan-Am Airlines, but after Castro’s takeover, it was nationalized. Today it is known as Crashbana by Cubans and Mexicans.

In 2018 it had a catastrophic crash with 107 fatalities, which came only a year after another crash, which was eight months after another crash. If you must go to Cuba, fly on Air Canada.

JAPAN AIRLINES

Japan Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world, having only one catastrophic accident in its history. That was when Flight 123 flew face-first into a mountain back in 1985, taking 520 passengers with it.

The company has since fired all of its kamikaze pilots and passengers can expect a relatively comfortable flight. I’ve flown JAL several times and was once even upgraded to first class, the only time in my traveling career, so I have a soft spot for them.

According to airlinerratings.com, JAL has a 7.2 out of 10 rating, making them one of the top 10 safest in the world!


Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: 3 Passengers Sue Aeroflot In A $3.5M Suit

Aeroflot became the source of a complaint coming from US passengers, who intend to claim up to $3.5 million from the company.

On January 13, 2018, three citizens from the state of Illinois, filed a lawsuit to the United States District Court against Aeroflot referring to numerous company violations.

According to the information of the complainants Dmitry, Svetlana and Alexander Banduryn, they were not allowed to board a plane at Sheremetyevo airport (SVO) on May 5, 2018, having arrived at the gate 20 minutes prior the scheduled departure.

After missing the Moscow-Helsinki flight which was a joint flight with Finnair, also mentioned in a claim as a party to be charged, the three passengers reported spending a day in the airport without any help from the carrier.

As stated in the lawsuit, the following day, instead of accommodating the passengers on other flights, Aeroflot offered them to buy new tickets, worth about $2,500 each.

US citizens not only ask for a compensation of about $12,000 plus the legal expenses, but affirm the Montreal Convention 1999 (MC-99) violation by Aeroflot, performed in a form of numerous company breaches against its passengers since 2004, as cited by Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).

They reckon, the actions of Aeroflot have been continuous and intentional, and also infringed on the American law - The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO. In case the aforementioned violations are proved, the claim could reach $3.5 million.

We believe the size of the claim and the nature of accusation can be regarded as an attempt to exert pressure on the airline, taking into account the involvement of the media, with an intent to further reach a settlement agreement on favorable terms, said Aeroflot Deputy Director General Vladimir Alexandrov in an official company comment.

The plaintiffs themselves admit they contravened Aeroflot regulations when saying they arrived 20 minutes before departure, as stated in Aeroflot’s comment.

The three US passengers, in their turn, insist they were late due to the poorly organized registration process.

Russian RIA state news writes, based on the complaint, that only two windows for baggage check were in operation, plus the landing took place far from the exit, which made it hard for one of the passengers with a hip defect, to get there.

Aeroflot is currently looking into the circumstances of the case.


Tourism Observer

FINLAND: Finnair Starts New Flights To Los Angeles

Continuing with its growth strategy, Finnair has announced it will begin flying to Los Angeles, California, as of next spring.

Finnair will fly three weekly frequencies to LAX airport as of March 31, 2019. In addition, the new route to Los Angeles will be Finnair’s first US route to be regularly operated with the new Airbus A350 aircraft.

Finnair is also making some additions to its summer program for the San Francisco and Chicago route.

Both routes will begin in April, and a fourth frequency will be added for San Francisco as of May.

With these changes, Finnair will now offer a daily flight to California during the summer season with the new three-weekly flight to Los Angeles and the new fourth weekly service to San Francisco.

Los Angeles is best known for its beautiful weather, famous beaches, and as the home of the US television and film industry, including the world-renowned Hollywood neighborhood.

It is also one of the largest business travel and cargo hubs in the United States.

Thanks to Helsinki’s geographical location, Finnair’s new northern route to Los Angeles will offer competitive and convenient travel times for customers from Scandinavia, the Baltics, Russia, Northern Germany as well as domestic routes in Finland.

We are very happy to expand our North American network and fly a new route to Los Angeles with our Airbus A350, says Juha Järvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair.

We opened our route to San Francisco two years ago with tremendous success, proving that California and the West Coast are very popular with our customers.

We are confident that this new route to Los Angeles will garner the same level of interest moving forward.

Los Angeles will be Finnair’s fifth US destination, along with New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami. The approximate flight times are expected to be 11 hours to LAX and 10 hours and 30 minutes to Helsinki.

The new route will be operated within the Atlantic joint business between Finnair, American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia.

Currently, the four airlines operate over 100 daily return flights between Europe and North America.


Tourism Observer

More Airlines Expanding Routes

There’s a new entrant in the U.S.-Hong Kong market; Delta will put a new aircraft on a China route and will beef up transpacifc code-sharing; Cathay Pacific will add another U.S. gateway next year.

United is eliminating first class on many routes and cuts back China service; a Lufthansa affiliate is adding a new business class; LATAM is coming to Las Vegas; San Jose gets more service to Mexico; Copa begins Denver service; an Italian airline plans new U.S. routes.

Alaska ends its relationship with two European partners; and Norwegian revamps its U.S. schedules next summer, adding frequencies from the West Coast.

Hong Kong Airlines, a Hong Kong-based sister company of China’s Hainan Airlines, started service to the U.S. for the first time.

The carrier is using a new Airbus A350-900 on the Los Angeles-Hong Kong route, configured with 33 lie-flat business class seats, 109 premium economy seats with 34-inch pitch, and 193 regular economy seats with 31-32 inch pitch.

The new LAX-Hong Kong flights operate four times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), with a 10:45 a.m. departure from LAX. Hong Kong Airlines plans to add San Francisco service in late March, and New York flights later next year.

So far, all of Delta’s Airbus A350-900s have been scheduled for routes out of Detroit or Atlanta, but now the airline is planning to operate one of the new planes out of Los Angeles.

Delta plans to start flying the new plane from LAX to Shanghai Pudong on July 2, alternating days with a 777-200LR until July 18, when the A350 went onto a daily schedule.

Delta’s A350s – which feature the airline’s new Delta One suites and new international premium economy section – are already used on flights from Detroit to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, and are slated to start Detroit-Beijing service January 17.

Detroit-Amsterdam and Atlanta-Seoul March 24; and Detroit-Shanghai April 19.

Meanwhile, Delta will expand code-sharing with its transpacific partner Korean Air on January 10, putting the DL code onto Korean’s flights to Seoul Incheon from Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

In other transpacific news, Cathay Pacific has unveiled plans to add another East Coast gateway in mid-September 2018, when it will start flying from Hong Kong to Washington Dulles.

The carrier already serves Boston, New York JFK and Newark. Cathay reportedly plans to fly the route – which will be the longest in its system – four days a week with a brand-new Airbus A350-1000.

A couple of months ago, we reported on United’s plans to reconfigure its international long-haul 777-200s, putting in new lie-flat Polaris business class seats, taking out first class, and going from nine-across to 10-across seating in economy.

The reconfigured 777s will be deployed, based on the elimination of first class from seating availability. It shows the elimination of 777 first class in late April from San Francisco to London, and from Washington Dulles to Brussels, Frankfurt and Tokyo Narita.

At the end of August from Chicago O’Hare to Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo Narita, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt and Munich.

Meanwhile, United’s seasonal summer route from San Francisco to Xi’An, China, which had previously been scheduled for three 787 flights a week from May 6 through September 4, has been eliminated for 2018.

Las Vegas is due to get its first non-stop service to South America next summer.

LATAM Airlines Brasil has filed plans to operate a 767 three times a week between Las Vegas and Sao Paulo from June 21 through August 31.

Lufthansa’s lower-cost leisure affiliate Eurowings plans to launch new transatlantic routes in 2018, including JFK-Dusseldorf starting April 28, Dusseldorf-Miami as of May 4, and Dusseldorf-Ft. Myers beginning May 3.

Now it appears that the airline will try to entice business travelers onto those flights by adding a new business class cabin.

The new Eurowings cabin, simply called Bizclass, will feature seats that recline fully and will include upgraded meals and other special amenities. Details of Eurowings’ new Bizclass were introduced in March at the big ITB Travel Fair in Berlin.

Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris, which already had service out of San Jose to Guadalajara, has now added two more routes.

Volaris has started twice-weekly flights from SJC to Morelia on Fridays and Sundays, as well as twice-weekly service from SJC to Zacatecas on Mondays and Thursdays. Next summer, Aeromexico is due to begin SJC-Mexico City flights.

Panama’s Copa Airlines, a member of United’s Star Alliance family, has added Denver as its 13th U.S. gateway.

The carrier has kicked off new non-stop service four days a week from Denver to Panama City, with Denver departures on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10:16 p.m. Copa offers onward connections in Panama to 55 Latin American destinations.

Italian carrier Meridiana plans to add two U.S. routes next summer. On June 1, it will begin daily service from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK, followed up on June 8 by four flights a week from Malpensa to Miami.

The airline will use a 247-passenger, two-class Airbus A330 on both routes.

On April 30, 2018, Alaska Airlines ended its Mileage Plan partnership with Air France-KLM – not really a surprise considering that the European duo has a joint venture partnership with Alaska’s arch-rival Delta.

Alaska and Delta ended their own mileage partnership last spring. The Alaskan carrier notes that it still has partnership agreements to Europe in place with British Airways, Finnair, Icelandair and Condor.

The latest schedule updates from Norwegian show the low-cost carrier plans to boost service on several U.S. routes in late March, increasing its weekly Barcelona frequencies from three to four out of Los Angeles, from three to five out of Oakland, and from four to six out of Newark.

The carrier will also boost LAX-Copenhagen service from three flights a week to four.

At Boston, Norwegian plans to increase London Gatwick service from four flights a week to seven starting June 12, but it will discontinue its seasonal Boston-Oslo and Boston-Copenhagen flights.


Tourism Observer

FINLAND: Finnair To Launch Flights to Hanover, Germany

Finnair has unveiled plans to launch flights between Helsinki and Hanover, Germany, next summer.

The new route will start on 29 April 2019 with five weekly frequencies and will become a daily and year-round frequency as of 1 June 2019.

Hanover is one of Northern Germany’s largest cities and hosts several important fair and trade events throughout the calendar year.

The city will be Finnair’s seventh destination in Germany as the airline already flies year-round to Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart.

We are very excited to open a new route to Hanover and to continue our growth and expansion into Germany as it is a very important market for Finnair.

We’ve also significantly increased our presence in the German market for the upcoming 2018 summer season by adding approximately 35 percent capacity compared to last summer, said Juha Järvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair.

Additional capacity is also being added for the 2019 summer season on some popular European routes.

Finnair will add four weekly frequencies to Barcelona from the beginning of June until the end of the summer season.

An additional frequency will be added to Reykjavik, making it a daily destination for the entire summer season. In addition, an additional daily frequency will be added to Warsaw on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The airline is also adding capacity on its Helsinki-Dubai route for the upcoming winter 2018 season.

One weekly frequency will be added which means Finnair will fly seven weekly frequencies to Dubai.

In addition, two of the weekly frequencies will now be operated with a A350, instead of a narrow-body aircraft.

Flying some of the Dubai frequencies with the A350 during the winter season will also allow us to offer our Finnair Business Class product with full-flat seats on this popular leisure and business route, Juha Järvinen said.


Tourism Observer

UNITED KINGDOM: Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) Is Most Compliant Airline At Heathrow Airport

London’s main gateway, Heathrow Airport (LHR) has unveiled its quarterly list featuring the top 50 noisiest, nastiest, most polluting airlines that fly into the busy airport.

The world’s seventh busiest airport, which registered the 78 million passenger mark in 2017, publishes this list on a quarterly basis, depicting those airlines that like behave, and those that don’t.

During the first quarter of 2018, EgyptAir hits the bottom of the list as the worst airline in the - noise quota count per seat measure.

This section measures the amount of noise a plane makes in relation to the number of passengers it carries.

The Egyptian carrier also scored the last spot, becoming the noisiest, and the one with most violations.

According to LHR, the Cairo-based airline flew routes, and that were less compliant with the noise abatement regulations around the airport.

The airline currently operates four flights per day to Cairo, departing at 13:30, 15:00, 21:05, and 22:35.

London-Heathrow has received thousands of complaints over the last decade because of the noise arriving and departing aircraft produce when operating in/out of the airport.

For this reason, there are pre-established arriving and departing noise preferred routes that airlines must comply with.

EgyptAir’s poor ranking is commensurate with its current flight schedule. The airline often runs delayed between the 23:30 and 04:30 curfew.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) scored the first spot as the most compliant airline of all.

Out of a possible score of 1,000 points, SAS landed at 944.

In the second place, LOT Polish Airlines follows with 938. Aer Lingus, Etihad Airways, Flybe, British Airways, Finnair, Delta, United, and Iberia complete the top-10.

During the same period in 2017, British Airways came up in the first spot, followed by Aer Lingus.

Etihad managed to keep the third spot for its second consecutive year.

As far as the local airlines are concerned, Virgin Atlantic keeps the 17th spot, scoring a modest 855 points.

The airline scored the 6th spot in noise quota per seat but dropped to the 36th spot in track keeping violations.

Flybe, however, was the number-one in noise certification, engine emissions certification, and early movements between 23:30 and 04:30.

British Airways (BA) long haul made the 22nd spot with an 824 mark.

The airline reached the second place in noise quota and emissions per seat. However, it fell to the last spot in engine emissions certification.

In the short haul segment, BA remains within the Top 10, scoring 935 points. The airline made the number-one position in noise quota and emissions per seat mark.

Overall, it’s a positive result for the British carriers, scoring decent points and remaining in acceptable positions against its competitors.

The middle of the table finds some interesting airlines.

In the 20th spot, Air India marked an 840 score, followed by Cathay Pacific, Aegean Airlines, Swiss, Qatar Airways, Air France, South African, Eurowings, Singapore, and Thai Airways.

Two of the Middle East Big Three carriers are outside the Top-10. Qatar Airways made the 29th spot in track keeping violations and 35th in continuous descent approach violations.

Emirates, on the other hand, made the 11th overall spot with 881 points.

The Dubai-based giant sometimes brings up to six Airbus A380s per day into LHR—one of the most silent aircraft in the industry.

However, it made the 16th spot in noise quota per seat, mainly because some of its flights operate between late night or early morning hours.

The worst 10 airlines, other than EgyptAir, are Kuwait Airways (49), Turkish Airlines [short haul] (48), El Al (47), Pakistan International Airlines (46), Turkish Airlines [long haul] (45), Korean Air (44), DHL (43), China Southern (42), Air China (41), and Gulf Air (40) complete the list.

Last year, El Al occupied the last spot, scoring 362 points.

This year, however, the Tel Aviv-based carrier scored 528, occupying the 47th place—a three-spot improvement.

In January, LHR announced that environmental charges over airlines increased 7%, starting from January 1, 2018.

The airport expects to reduce the impact on local communities by making it cleaner and quieter with the restructured environmental charge, encouraging airlines to deploy its newest aircraft on LHR-bound routes.

This is the best way to cut emissions and shrink the noise footprint around the airport.

It is a tangible step that will make a real difference to local communities, said John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow CEO.

The new environmental charge forms part of Heathrow’s sustainability strategy called Heathrow 2.0. The airport’s goal is to reach at least a 50% of its passengers to travel in “sustainable transport” by 2030.

This quarterly list is, therefore, a clever way of showing which airlines comply with the airport’s regulations.

By 2025, Heathrow 2.0, will establish an airside ultra-low emission zone, to improve quality of life of local communities through cleaner air.

Heathrow has also been recognized as the Best Airport in Western Europe and for the 9th year in a row, Best Airport for Shopping.

This achievement follows what has been a successful year for the airport, carrying 78 million passengers annually.

The 82% of passengers surveyed in 2017 rated their experience traveling through Heathrow as Excellent or Very Good.

On top of this, Heathrow recorded a personal best in improving flight punctuality with 80.2% of flights departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled departures.


Tourism Observer

EUROPE: Chinese Air Travel Shoots Up, Europe Gains A Great Deal

Europe is set to benefit from increasing Chinese air travel with extra flights and more capacity for 2018.

The continent will see a boom in capacity on flights from China, according to the latest figures from travel pattern analyst ForwardKeys.

It reports that nine new routes and one resumed route will start during the first half of 2018, and a further three are in the pipeline.

At least four China-Europe routes are already planned for the second half of this year.

This follows an expansion in Chinese flights to the US and Australia over the past two years.

ForwardKeys predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million booking transactions a day.

According to its statistics, by June there will be an extra 30 flights a week from China to Europe and, based on an estimation of 200 seats per flight.

This means 6,000 more seats will be available for Europe-bound Chinese travellers.

Excluding Russia, the average total number of seats available each week last summer was 150,000.

In March alone new flights include:

- Twice weekly from Shenzhen to Madrid by Hainan Airlines.

- Resumption of three times weekly flights from Shenyang to Frankfurt by Lufthansa.

- Twice weekly from, Shenzhen to Brussels by Hainan Airlines in March 2018.

Finland is benefiting from a strong Asia strategy on the part of Finnair, which announced the opening of its seventh direct Chinese route in May 2018.

Spain, the UK and Ireland are seeing a mix of increased tourism alongside healthy Chinese business investment.

This growth will be building on an already strong start to the year.

Europe had a 10% market share of the outbound Chinese market and saw a 7.4% increase in Chinese travellers during January and February this year.

Turkey recovery after terrorist attacks increased by 108.2%, and Greece by 55.7%, compared to the same period last year.

Travel in the opposite direction is also set to increase.

Flight bookings to China, in the coming six months, from the rest of the world, are 11.8% ahead of this time last year.

Bookings from Americas, which is responsible for 25% of travel to China, are currently 24% ahead of last year.

The EU-China Tourism Year was launched in Venice in January, heralded as the largest-ever official EU-wide initiative to grow Chinese tourism across Europe.

ForwardKeys chief executive and co-founder, Olivier Jager, said It seems that the EU-China Tourism Year is having a positive impact on travel in both directions.

The Chinese have been growing in confidence for international travel for some time now and that trend is being reciprocated.

Europe clearly has a lot to gain from this increased capacity because the Chinese are ready to spend money on luxury goods while on holiday, providing good opportunities for European retailers.


Tourism Observer

SOUTH KOREA: Seoul Hosts First Baltic Tourism Seminar

Latvian Embassy organized its first "Baltic States Tourism Seminar" at the Millennium Seoul Hilton on May 15.

The event brought together 20 representatives from central and local government institutions in the tourism sector and from privately owned travel agencies in the three Baltic states _ Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Inese Sirava, head of the tourism department at Latvia's Investment and Development Agency, led the Latvian delegation. It included representatives from the Riga Tourism Development Bureau (LIVE RIGA) and travel companies Baltic Travel Group, Con-ex Latvia Tours Group and Estravel Latvia.

Latvian Ambassador Peteris Vaivars presented the first publication produced by the Baltic states in the Korean language _ a travel guide translated at the Latvian Embassy.

In its daily contacts with people from Korean tourism businesses, the Latvian Embassy is receiving a clear message about the interests of Korean tourists in the Baltic states, the ambassador said.

I am happy that the Baltic states have agreed to jointly offer the Baltic destination as a single tourism product to Korean visitors, whose number is increasing by the year.

With a special focus on the centenary of the Baltic states in 2018, representatives suggested that the coming year could be declared "Baltic Year" in Korea.

The seminar included presentations about tourist destinations in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Lufthansa and Finnair airlines introduced the shortest and most comfortable flight routes from Korea to the Baltics, the embassy said.

Baltic and Korean tourism organizations and agencies also held business-to-business meetings to build new contacts and answer questions about specific interests.

According to the embassy, the number of Korean travellers to Latvia and the Baltic states is steadily increasing, approaching 10,000 annually.

Latvia aims to reach out to larger numbers of potential travellers through tourism media and Korean travel agencies so that the number of visitors can be raised to at least 20,000 over the five coming years," an embassy spokesperson said.

FINLAND: Strike Disrupts Flights At Helsinki Airport

Finnair has confirmed that it will have to cancel more than 90 of its flights through its home hub of Helsinki Airport 17 March because of a strike at Finland’s biggest air gateway.

The strike, to be held between 3pm and 7pm Eastern European Time (EET, two hours ahead of UTC), does not involve Finnair staff, but is the result of a dispute between the Finnish Aviation Union(IAU) and Palta, a service sector employer union.

Tomorrow’s strike will have an impact not dissimilar to last Friday’s strike at the airport, a Finnair statement said, involving nearly a third of Finnair’s daily flights.

A large proportion of Finnair’s domestic and European flights will be cancelled.

“Due to the strike actions there will unfortunately be cargo restrictions for Friday, 17 March,” Jukka Glader, Finnair’s head of cargo operations, told ACN.

We are truly sorry for the inconvenience these strikes are causing Finnair customers and hope that the parties to the dispute will find an agreement soon.

As we are forced to adjust Finnair traffic plan for Friday, we kindly request our cargo customers to take note of the following, Glader added:

No cargo will be accepted on European narrow-body aircraft flights arriving at Helsinki on 17 March between 1-7pm. Shipments booked for European narrow-body flights during the strike will be rebooked.

The warehouse of our cargo terminal in Helsinki will be closed on 17 March between 3 and 7pm. Therefore, no acceptance or delivery of cargo will be handled during those hours.

Loads for wide-body aircraft flights departing Helsinki during the strike hours will be reduced compared to normal operating conditions, and no cargo requiring temperature control in the CRT +15 to +25C range will be accepted for transport on wide-body flights with departure time from or arrival at Helsinki during the strike hours.

With regards to Finnair Cargo’s European services, the carrier’s road feeder services will continue to operate, so traffic within Europe will not be completely suspended.

ESTONIA: Nordica Is Estonias Busiest Airline,SmartLynx Airlines Helps VietJet Air

State-owned Estonian carrier Nordica, which was created to take over defunct Estonian Air, managed to right away become the busiest airline in its home airport of Tallinn.

The operator reports that in 2016 it serviced more than 18% of the regular passenger traffic going through the capital’s gateway which in absolute figures means more than 365 thousand people.

Although Nordica has not announced its precise share, the carrier underlines it is going 0.1% ahead of the next contender on the rating list.

Tallinn Airport’s 2016 Report says the second busiest airline is Latvian flag carrier airBaltic followed by Ryanair, Lufthansa and Finnair.

All of the companies are reported to control from 10% to 15% of Tallinn’s overall passenger traffic.

Last year the airport of the Estonian capital serviced more than 2.22 million people, which is 2.5% more than a year before. It operates 23 destinations all year round and 34 destinations within the summer schedule.

Nordica’s website says its regular flight network includes 12 destinations, namely to Vilnius (Lithuania), Kyiv (Ukraine), Stockholm and Örebro (Sweden), Oslo and Trondheim (Norway), Copenhagen (Denmark), Amsterdam and Groningen (the Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Munich (Germany) and Vienna (Austria). All flights are performed under the code-sharing agreement with LOT Polish Airlines.

This Warsaw-based carrier is actually looking into a 49% share in the Estonian operator.

It is exactly in the interest of the Polish partner that Nordica serves Warsaw from Tallinn and both Stockholm and Vilnius from Warsaw.

Nordica started operation in November 2015. Its fleet currently consists of two Bombardier CRJ700 regional jets as well as four CRJ900s.

Estonian branch of Latvian carrier SmartLynx Airlines, whose revenue is by about 80% generated through ACMI agreements, has sent its fleet, two Airbus A320, to fly for Vietnamese low-cost carrier VietJet Air.

Both of SmartLynx Estonia's aircraft fitted with 180 seats in single-class configuration will be based at Noibai airport located in 45 km from downtown Hanoi.

The aircraft with tail numbers ES-SAK and ES-SAM were ferried to the capital of Vietnam in mid-January. The Estonian carrier and its Vietnamese partner signed the ACMI agreement in the fall of 2016.

According to Flightradar24 service, the Estonian aircraft are now operated on VietJet Air's flights to Danang, Phu Quoq, Ho Chi Minh and Hue.

Each aircraft operates from five to nine daily flights inside Vietnam. SmartLynx' PR manager Ilva Priedniece told Russian Aviation Insider that both aircraft will fly for VietJet Air until mid-February.

SmartLynx has had similar contracts with Vietnamese operators in the past. Since May 2016 the Latvian airline has been helping another local low-cost carrier, Jetstar Pacific Airlines. According to Priedniece, the agreement will be in effect until mid-May 2017.

SmartLynx Airlines also has experience of providing ACMI services to operators in the UK, Germany, Israel, Spain, the UAE, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan, Turkey, Czech Republic, Sweden, Equatorial Guinea etc.

FINLAND: Finnair To Fly To Astana From Helsinki

Finnair will add a new short-haul route to Astana, Kazakhstan for the summer 2017 season, operating two weekly flights between Helsinki and Astana from 20 June to 11 August. The new route will coincide with the 2017 World Expo, which starts in June 2017.

Finnair’s flights to Astana will be flown with an A319 aircraft and have a duration of four hours and ten minutes. Helsinki departures will be flown on Tuesdays and Thursdays while flights from Astana will return on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Key Enhancements To Oneworld Events Unveiled

oneworld®, the world’s most awarded global airline alliance, today unveiled key enhancements to oneworld events, its one-stop, easy-to-use travel service for the conferences, conventions, meetings, exhibitions and special events markets.

Key improvements include:

Lowering by half the minimum requirement for the number of delegates flying internationally to an event, to just 50.
A simpler and more generous incentive for event organisers.

The changes are being made on the back of a record year for the programme – with more events and conventions selecting oneworld as their official air travel partner.

They were announced on the opening day of one of the biggest events of the year for this sector of the travel industry – IBTM World. Reed Travel Exhibitions, which manages IBTM worldwide, has itself selected oneworld as its official and exclusive global air travel partner for the market-leading events in its portfolio.

oneworld Director of Sales José María Alvarado said: “The past 12 months have seen oneworld events break all records with twice as many events and conventions signing oneworld to be their global air travel partner than in the year before. So far in 2016, through the oneworld events programme, oneworld has been chosen as the global air travel partner for organisers of events and conventions in more than 100 different cities in 30 plus different countries.

“It is very clear that event organisers and delegates love the attractive flight discounts the programme offers on a collection of some of the world’s leading airlines, to say nothing of the programme’s ease of use and the many other benefits oneworld events provides. Now oneworld events is even better.”

oneworld events is aimed at conferences, conventions, meetings, exhibitions and special events targeting, from today, a minimum of 50 attendees flying internationally - half the previous minimum requirement. Requests are accepted as early as five years in advance and up to three months prior to the event date.

For meeting, event and convention organisers, oneworld events provides:

An efficient and user-friendly centralised process, with one set of terms and conditions covering travel on all oneworld member airlines that can be ready for acceptance just days after submitting the online request form.
Attractive discounts for attendees on flights on oneworldmember airlines, which together serve more than a thousand destinations in 150 plus countries around the globe.
Access to the easy-to-use oneworld events online booking tool, together with option to designate a travel agency.
The chance for organisers to earn and redeem travel credits for flights on participating oneworld member airlines.
Simple online access to real-time management reports 24/7, when using oneworld’s own online booking tool, to help meet attendees’ travel needs.
A ready-to-use oneworld promotional toolkit to build attendee awareness.

For attendees, oneworld events offers:

Attractive discounts on flights for attendees and one travel companion each, on oneworld member airlines, which together serve a thousand destinations in more than 150 countries around the globe. From today, those discounts can be obtained not just by booking direct via oneworld events' easy-to-use website but also via designated travel agencies.
Option to book those discounts direct via oneworld events' easy-to-use website and via designated travel agencies.
A user-friendly booking tool that displays the most convenient flights and multiple fare options from hundreds of departure points all over the world to the event or convention location.
Travel on a collection of some of the world’s leading airlines.
Round-the-clock support, when booking via oneworld’s own online booking tool, with the oneworld events helpdesk ready to help via email or phone.
All the usual privileges and benefits afforded to members of any oneworld member airline frequent flyer programme – including the ability to earn miles/points and, for top tier cardholders and one companion each, to use any of the 650 plus airport lounges provided by the alliance’s airlines the world over. Attendees who are not yet members can sign-up before they depart and then receive their benefits and privileges on their way to or from their convention or event.

About oneworld

oneworld is an alliance of some of the world’s leading airlines, committed to providing the highest level of service and convenience to frequent international travellers. They include airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LATAM Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and SriLankan Airlines, and around 30 affiliates. As part of oneworld, these airlines:

Serve more a thousand airports in 150 plus countries, with 14,000 daily departures.
Carry some 550 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of 3,500 aircraft.
Generate US$ 130 billion annual revenues.

oneworld member airlines work together to deliver consistently a superior, seamless travel experience, with special privileges and rewards for frequent flyers, including earning and redeeming miles and points across the entire alliance network. Top tier cardholders (Emerald and Sapphire) enjoy access to more than 650 airport lounges and are offered extra baggage allowances. The most regular travellers (Emerald) can also use fast track security lanes at select airports.

oneworld is the world’s most highly prized global airline group, with more “best alliance” awards than its competitors combined, including currently:

FlightStats’ On-Time Performance Award 2015 for the third time running.
Business Traveller’s 2016 Best Airline Alliance, for the fourth year running.
World Travel Awards’ World’s Leading Airline Alliance 2015, for the 13th consecutive year.
Global Traveler magazine’s 2015 GT Tested Reader Survey Award – for the sixth year in a row.
Premier Traveler’s Best of 2015 Awards – for the third year running.
Business Traveler North America’s 2015 Best in Business Travel Awards.

FINLAND: Finnair To Cancel Flights Due To Working Restrictions Set By Finnish Pilots’ Association

Finnair is preparing for possible individual flight cancellations due to working restrictions set by the Finnish Pilots’ Association.

In unforeseen cases, Finnair might not have enough pilots to operate certain flights due to the restrictions placed by the Finnish Pilots’ Association. These restrictions include a ban on pilots working additional flights and pilot roster changes to cover for last-minute illnesses.

Collective labor agreement negotiations are still ongoing between Finnair and the pilot union. The collective labor agreement expired on November 15, 2016.

Finnair may need to cancel a flight for example if a pilot becomes ill and there aren’t enough standby and management pilots to fill the position.

Currently, Finnair has fewer pilots available for duty than usual as the company is training pilots for new aircraft types and positions as part of its growth strategy.

Finnair plans to wet lease an aircraft to cover for potential cancellations on the European routes.

FINLAND: Finnair Will Suspend Or Cancel Two Asian Routes

Finnair will suspend or cancel services on two Asian routes as it seeks to accommodate pilot training for its new Airbus A350s.

The Finnish flag carrier plans to halt flights between Helsinki and Chongqing, China, from Jan. 11 to May 2, 2017 as it ramps up its A350 fleet, which will become the carrier’s main long-haul aircraft. This requires A350 training for Finnair’s existing pool of A330 pilots.

Training takes the flight deck crew away from normal duties, which puts a temporary strain on Finnair’s pilot resources.

Finnair said it will contact all passengers affected by this temporary measure to offer a suitable rerouting, change of travel date or, alternatively, a refund.

“We apologize for the disruption this is causing to our customers’ travel plans, and will do our very best to find a suitable solution for each passenger during this temporary period when we do not operate to Chongqing,” Finnair COO Jaakko Schildt said.

Some flights from Helsinki to Nagoya, Japan, will also be canceled in spring 2017.

Finnair was the European launch customer for the A350 and will have six in service by the end of 2016.

Other measures to adjust the traffic program to allow for the A350 trainings include a two-month wet lease on Finnair’s Helsinki-New York JFK route.

In addition, Finnair said it will hire an Airbus A340 and crew from Portuguese wet-lease and ACMI specialist carrier Hi Fly from Nov. 3 to Jan. 8, 2017.

JAPAN: Iberia And Japan Airlines Join Work Together

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has granted an extension of the anti-trust immunity to include Iberia in the joint business between Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair, allowing the four airlines to cooperate commercially on flights between Europe and Japan.

Iberia is expected to join the existing joint business between the other three airlines as from October 18, 2016.

Iberia will start its non-stop operations between Madrid and Tokyo on October 18th. Its addition to the joint business will provide customers with a larger network, more flights, better connections and more frequent flyer benefits.

The revenue-sharing agreement will strengthen the oneworld alliance and enable it to compete more effectively around the world with other global alliances.

“We would like to thank the regulators for approving our ATI application for Iberia joining Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair in our current joint business between Japan and Europe,” said Yoshiharu Ueki, President of JAL. “This move will allow us to further strengthen our partnership with oneworld partner airlines, and will provide our customers with further benefits for travels between Japan and Europe.”

Alex Cruz, President and chief executive of British Airways said, “We are delighted our sister airline Iberia will be joining our oneworld partners in the joint business. The addition of more European flights to Japan, along with the benefits of co-ordinated schedules and frequent flyer rewards is fantastic news for consumers. Iberia’s direct flights between Narita and Madrid will be a very popular addition.”

Pekka Vauramo, CEO of Finnair, said, "The addition of Iberia to our existing joint business between Europe and Japan is a great asset and we look forward to working closely with all our partners in this alliance. We are especially pleased with the benefits and opportunities this will generate for our oneworld customers travelling between both continents.”

Luis Gallego, President and CEO of Iberia, said “We are very happy to launch our non-stop flights to Japan as part of this joint business. We want to offer our customers more and better travel options and this will help us do so. We are also glad to contribute to the strength of the joint business and the oneworld alliance”.

RUSSIA: Rossiya Airlines

Rossiya Airlines JSC , sometimes branded as Rossiya - Russian Airlines is a Russian airline headquartered in Saint Petersburg with its hub at Pulkovo Airport. It is predominantly owned by Aeroflot and serves domestic and some European destinations and additionally operates the aircraft fleet for the Government of Russia.

The airline was established in 1992 and is wholly owned by the Russian government. In 2006 the Russian government merged Rossiya Airlines with Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise and on October 29 the new airline started flying under the name Rossiya. The merger process began in December 2004. In November 2006 it was announced that the merger had been completed and Rossiya Airlines was registered in Saint Petersburg on 9 October 2006 and has a branch in Moscow and 54 offices in Russia and abroad.

In February 2010, the Russian government announced that all regional airlines owned by the state through the holding company 'Rostechnologii' would be consolidated with the national carrier Aeroflot in order to increase the airlines' financial viability.[6] The airline has operated flights under Aeroflot's "SU" since 30 March 2014.

Arising from the merger with Pulkovo Airlines, the bulk of the scheduled service operation is from Russia's second-largest city, St Petersburg, where Pulkovo was the dominant airline, and Rossiya continues to be. Operations based in Moscow are predominantly non-scheduled ones for state organisations, or flights operated on behalf of Aeroflot; Rossiya continues Pulkovo's lead role on the Moscow-St Petersburg route.

Rossiya has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

- Aeroflot (SkyTeam)
- Air Astana
- Air France (SkyTeam)
- Air Moldova
- airBaltic
- Austrian Airlines (Star Alliance)
- Belavia
- Czech Airlines (SkyTeam)
- Finnair (Oneworld)
- Hainan Airlines
- Iberia (Oneworld)
- Icelandair
- KLM (SkyTeam)
- Korean Air (SkyTeam)
- LOT Polish Airlines (Star Alliance)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle
- Scandinavian Airlines (Star Alliance)
- Swiss International Air Lines (Star Alliance)

FINLAND: Finnair Starts Flying To Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh Airport welcomed the arrival of Finnair on 18 April.

Seen celebrating the start of the oneworld carrier’s service from Helsinki with a Scottish bagpiper are Gordon Dewar, CEO Edinburgh Airport, and Fredrik Charpentier, Finnair Area VP EMEA. Flights will operate thrice-weekly, while a fourth weekly service will be added on 22 June operating until 10 August.

Finnair commenced services between Helsinki (HEL) and Edinburgh (EDI) on 18 April. The 1,716-kilometre sector will operate thrice-weekly (Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays) onboard the carrier’s A319 fleet.

A fourth weekly flight (Wednesdays) will operate between 22 June and 10 August. The city pair will face no incumbent carriers. Commenting on the launch, Gordon Dewar, CEO Edinburgh Airport, said: “This direct new route between Edinburgh and Helsinki is fantastic news – it is further confirmation of Edinburgh Airport’s position as a leader for connectivity from Scotland to Finland and onwards to the expanding markets of Asia.

I congratulate Finnair for recognising the growing international demand for direct links to Edinburgh, and this move shows that they have similar aspirations for growth as we do.”

Edinburgh becomes the third UK gateway for Finnair, with the oneworld member also serving London Heathrow and Manchester from its Helsinki base. See how Edinburgh Airport’s FTWA compares to others from around the world.

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 Delivery Flight

The Airbus A350 has only reached delivery stage for about 14 months, but since the first aircraft went to Qatar Airways just before Christmas 2014, new deliveries to new customers start to get a bit of a routine at Airbus.

After Qatar Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Finnair and TAM, Singapore Airlines (SIA) joined the exclusive club of A350 operators this week.

When aircraft number 16, MSN 026, A350-941 registered 9V-SMA, was handed over to Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Wednesday, the buzz was considerably less than before. Even more so in comparison to the last milestone delivery for SIA in Toulouse, the first-ever Airbus A380 in the fall of 2007. With the first A350 for the Asian quality carrier, it was almost a low-key event for Airbus and SIA standards.

Adding to that was that Airbus’ top brass was in China at the time, breaking ground for a new A330 completion center in Tianjn. So Didier Evrard , EVP Programmes at Airbus and former Head of the A350 Programme, was the master of ceremonies on the manufacturer’s side back in Toulouse. “Having SIA as a customer is the strongest possible endorsement of the A350”, remarked Evrard during the handover ceremony.

For SIA, the A350 is a truly new dimension. “In the last five years, we had very little expansion on long haul, we didn’t have the right aircraft with the right efficiency to expand in a commercially viable manner”, said SIA-CEO Goh Choon Phong.

“The A350 is a game changer for us because it is this particular aircraft offering us the right size, efficiency and cabin to add more capacity on long haul.” In fact, the A350 will open up a new route for SIA, from Singapore to Düsseldorf, Germany, in July this year. “That would have been difficult to serve for us without the A350”, adds Goh.

The A350s 253 seats (42 in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 187 in Economy) are just about the perfect size to establish new routes off the trunk routes or add more frequencies with extra flights to existing destinations. The first long-haul route for the new aircraft in the SIA fleet will be the service to Amsterdam from May 9th, replacing a Boeing 777-300ER.

SIA is so far the biggest customer for the A350-900 with 67 firm orders for the base version. Interestingly, the airline will deploy the type on any kind of route – from regional runs within Asia to long haul to ultra long haul. SIA is the launch customer for a new version, the A350-900ULR. “Strategically, the ULR is very important to us, as the US is such an important market and we plan to re-establish non-stop service in 2018 from Singapore to New York, Los Angeles and one more city we will announce later”, says Goh.

SIA had pulled the 18-hour-plus non-stop services from Changi Airport to Newark and the slightly shorter LAX-service in 2013, with fuel prices so high and the utilized four-engine A340-500s so inefficient that it was no longer viable. So the A350-900 will be part of the SIA fleet in three different versions, besides the current 253-seat base version for long-haul. “It’s obvious the ULR will have less seats than regular A350s, and then we will have the regional version with more seats, we still have flexibility to adjust the number of each version we need according to demand.” Interestingly, as Airbus’s A350 spokesman Arnaud de la Croix pointed out in Toulouse, the ULR model can be reconfigured back to the base 900-version, in restricting some fuel tank capacity. Unlike other ULR aircraft, the A350-900ULR variant does not physically contain bigger or more fuel tanks, the ULR just makes maximum use of the existing capacity.

But this is still kind of far off in the future, the current priority is to introduce the A350 into SIA’s fleet. Here, it will replace up to 29 Boeing 777-200ERs and 32 A330-300s, all of the latter are leased. “We currently have about 40 pilot trained to fly the A350, all converting from the A330 due to the common type rating”, explains SIA’s A350 chief pilot Paul Ho to AirwaysNews.

“By year-end, when we will have eleven A350s delivered, we plan to have about 100 pilots to fly them.” Singapore being Singapore, a city state with famously strict rules, the Civil Aviation Authority had to pre-authorize guests on the delivery flight to even visit the cockpit, and even then, photos of the cockpit in flight were not allowed.

There were about 70 passengers on flight SQ8895 from Toulouse to Singapore, a small media contingent, staff on duty and employees who won the trip as a prize in an internal raffle. After checking-in at the Airbus Delivery Center, each passenger and crew member had to stand on a scale to be weighed together with all personal luggage. Interestingly, several male fliers observed, including the pilot, brought it to 106 kilograms each.

The aircraft’s luxurious Business Class cabin, in 1-2-1 configuration, but forcing passengers to sleep diagonally when in full-flat mode, was almost fully occupied. The product is similar to that in the latest Boeing 777-300ERs, with some small enhancements. SIA plans to totally revamp its First and Business Class offerings with delivery of five new A380s from the second half of 2017. The CEO wouldn’t say if the airline would keep the diagonal seating, which fairly many passengers dislike.

The new Premium Economy Class has proven to be a success for SIA, while reducing the number of Economy seats, effectively leaving the cheapest segment of the market more to the Gulf carriers. “We respond to what our customers tell us”, comments the CEO. SIA’s Premium Economy, with seats supplied by the same German manufacturer ZIM that equips Lufthansa, is quite luxurious in appearance and boasts 38 inches of pitch and inflight service including French champagne. Catering on the delivery flight however included bubbly in plastic cups for everybody, as well as two meal choices supplied by Airbus.

Nothing to write home about, but well presented. Apparently SIA did not want to make as much fuss as for example Qatar Airways does on delivery flights with guests, which includes a specially printed menu and an even higher class catering than what the Gulf carrier already offers on regular flights in Premium classes, often including caviar for all on board.

A cheery reception event attended by Singapore’s minister of transport rounded out the premiere of the next-generation Airbus to one of the manufacturer’s most faithful customers since the early days of the Airbus A300 in the late 1970s. Before scheduled long-haul services to Amsterdam start, passengers can experience the new aircraft on short-haul legs between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and Jakarta, flown to enable newly trained A350-pilots to accumulate enough cycles.

FINLAND: 2015 Was Succesful For Tartu Airport

Tartu Airport had a successful year in 2015, there was reached an all-time second result in the number of passengers – total pro year – 21,117 passengers. 20,708 of these passengers flew on regular flights on Helsinki – Tartu – Helsinki route. Compared to last year, the 2014, the growth of passenger numbers is 47.4%. Even more, 20,708 passengers on Helsinki – Tartu – Helsinki route is far more than were the airBaltic results in 2010, when on Riga – Tartu – Riga route flew 18 447 passengers pro year.

Already on December 18, there was achieved the magic number on the Helsinki-Tartu-Helsinki route, when airport manager greeted on board of Finnair flight from Tartu to Helsinki the 20 000th passenger of year 2015. It became a joyful surprise for a young Swedish lady, who was flying from Tartu via Helsinki to Mariehamn. She was donated by small gift containing Finnair and Tartu airport emblematic souvenirs.

All passengers of the departing flight were asked to taste the specially made for this event big cake, marked with number 20 000.

That good result was achieved thank to regular and punctual flying of the national Finnish airline Finnair (flies Helsinki – Tartu – Helsinki route from May 1, 2015.)Passengers from Tartu and Southern Estonia have found for themselves a favorable opportunity to start their planned international flights from closest point, from Tartu International Airport.

One of Scandinavia’s biggest airlines – Finnair offers now for people from southern Estonia via Helsinki hub transfer flights to more than 70 destinations, on four continents. Finnair continues to fly between Helsinki and Tartu seven days a week.