The Hindu Business Line : India key to Asia-Europe traffic for Finnair

Snapshot
Helsinki has over 120 direct destinations of which 11 are Asian with daily links.
Finavia is in the process of expanding these terminals at a cost over €143 million.
Finnair has witnessed 30 per cent growth in Asian traffic to Helsinki in 2007.

R. Balaji

Chennai, Sept. 18 Passenger traffic between Asia and Europe is growing at about 30 per cent a year and Finnair, Finland’s flagship carrier, and its hub, the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, are well positioned to grab a large chunk of that market.

Officials from Finnair and Finavia, the State-run enterprise that owns and operates Finland’s airports, told a group of Indian journalists on a tour of their facilities that the “straightest way between Europe and Asia goes via Helsinki.”

That’s a geographical advantage that no one can beat.

With fuel and crew costs directly tied to the length of the flight, Finnair enjoys a distinct edge over others.

The journalists were on a tour organised by Finnfacts, an independent agency promoting awareness of Finland’s industry abroad, and the Embassy of Finland in New Delhi.

Finavia

India is an important component of the Asia traffic. Mr Timo Jarvela, Marketing Manager, Finavia, said that at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, the distance between the terminal receiving Indian flights and European flights terminal is just a five-minute walk.

Helsinki has over 120 direct destinations of which 11 are Asian with daily links.

Finavia is in the process of expanding these terminals at a cost over €143 million.

Over 37,000 sq m of terminal space, eight new aero-bridges and an increased passenger handling capacity of about 15 million a year from about 12 million now will be in place by the autumn of 2009.

Finnair

Mr Petteri Kostermaa, Vice-President, Network Strategy and Management, of Finnair said that the carrier has witnessed 30 per cent growth in Asian traffic to Helsinki in 2007 when it is estimated to touch 1.7 million passengers – nearly five times the industry average.

In 2001, Finnair started with nine flights a week to Asian destinations and now operates 60.

By 2009 it plans to operate over 75 flights, he said.

As a link between Asia and Europe, Finnair would be looking at taking a share in a market that is estimated at about 25 million people flying annually. This is expected to double by 2015.

India link

India’s share is expected to increase as Finnair is authorised to link more destinations.

Finnair hopes to connect Mumbai and Helsinki on a daily basis from next summer against five times a week now.

It operates daily flights from Delhi.

It is also in the process of finalising the Mumbai-Helsinki-New York schedule, he said.

Once the daily link between Mumbai and Helsinki is finalised in 2008, it would look at a third city in India in 2009.

This could be one of the southern cities, he said.

According to Mr Kostermaa, Finnair is in talks with leading carriers like Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India to partner with it in India.

Negotiations are on with these companies to provide connecting flights from Mumbai and Delhi.

Chennai market

Also, in 2009 it hopes to connect a third city, possibly Hyderabad, Bangalore or Chennai, which is the biggest market in the South.

However, the airport infrastructure needs to be expanded.

“Hyderabad and Bangalore seem to be moving fast (in airport expansion). If Chennai waits too long, we may not be able to come in.”