Finnair to start flights from India

Helsinki: The Finnish airline Finnair, which is launching its maiden fight between Helsinki and New Delhi October 30, said it would eventually add several Indian cities to its network, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore.

"We already have the traffic rights for Mumbai. But initially we are starting a direct flight between the Finnish Capital Helsinki and New Delhi," said Peter Kostermaa, Finnair's vice president for network strategies and development.

"Later on, we would like to start flights from other Indian cities as they are fast emerging as potential markets," Kostermaa said.

"The flight between Delhi and Helsinki will operate three times a week. But the frequency will be increased to daily. We are acquiring a dozen aircraft in the next couple of years and India is one of our major focus areas."

Finnair's entry into India with its inaugural flight is going to pose a major challenge to European airlines, as the flight from Helsinki to Delhi would take only six hours and 35 minutes, airline officials said.

"Finnair's New Delhi-Helsinki flight is 30 minutes faster than any other route from Western Europe to India," Kostermaa said.

He also said that despite the growing competition in Asia, Finnair is planning a major allocation of its resources in terms of aircraft and investment to Asia - which accounts for more than one-third of the airline's revenues.

"A major focus is on Asia where the number of air trips is expanding very rapidly."

Finnair carried about 700,000 Asian passengers in 2005. With 29 per cent growth in Asia, it is expecting to fly 900,000 passengers this year and cross the two million mark by 2010.

Kostermaa said India occupies a significant place in Finnair's strategy in Asia.

"We wanted to start our service from India much earlier but shortage of aircraft and issues related to traffic rights took some time to resolve. Now we are quite excited about this venture as the Indian market is already quite competitive."

Referring to pricing, he said the strategy for India will be based on the market situation. "India is a new market for us. We are hoping to learn a great deal from our experience in operating the New Delhi-Helsinki flight."