Finnair to expand its network to more Indian cities

NEW DELHI: Terming India as a "priority destination", Nordic carrier Finnair on Thursday said that in addition to Delhi, it would soon link more cities directly with Finland.

Important cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad are under consideration for starting Finnair services, Kari Stolbow, Director, Indian Sub-continent, Finnair, told reporters here.

He said, meanwhile, Finnair Cargo will launch services between Mumbai and Helsinki in co-operation with Nordic Global Airlines from September 16 this year.

Terming Delhi-Helsinki route as profitable, he said the airline's commercial income increased by around 25 per cent in the first six months of this year compared to corresponding period last year.

Finnair had launched direct flight between Delhi and Helsinki on October 30, 2007.

It is running a flight on the route six days a week except for Tuesday, Stolbow said.

The flights between Mumbai and Helsinki were suspended in March 2009 due to fall in traffic, he said.

The major share of Finnair passengers from India are from business sector.

"Corporate passengers constitute 75 per cent while leisure travellers form 25 per cent of our traffic from India," he said.

Stolbow added the airline would work closely with leading corporate houses like Wipro, Tata Consultancy and Nokia which have establishments in Finland to increase number of corporate flyers.

He further said Finnair has forged tie-up with Kingfisher airlines to mobilise more passengers to Finland from different cities within India.