Services and Products

The emphasis of Finnair's long haul strategy has shifted to Asian traffic, where Finnair has a geographical advantage in travel between Asia and Europe. The number of weekly Asian flights was increased to existing destinations. The number of weekly flights to Beijing was increased from three to five and a daily service was started to Bangkok.

In February a new route opened via Bangkok to Hong Kong. Finnair also has the right to carry passengers on flights between Hong Kong and Bangkok. During 2002, the capacity in Asian traffic grew by nearly 40 per cent. The cabin factor on Asian flights was more than 80 per cent.

Adjustments were made to the European and domestic route networks. A number of additional flights, linked with the Asian services, were added to the European route network. Overall, however, capacity was reduced in Europe and in Finland by around ten per cent.

In co-operation with Finnair, Golden Air has started to operate within southern Finland certain routes, which were discontinued by Finnair due to profitability reasons. This way services and onward connections are safeguarded. The Stuttgart route, which opened in 2002, is also operated with Golden Air aircraft. Finnair's associate company, Aero Airlines AS, began traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn at the end of March, using one ATR72 aircraft. In the next few years Aero's role in Baltic-region traffic will be increased.

As business travel grows on long-haul routes, in-flight service has been developed particularly from the perspective of business passenger needs. Business Class on long-haul routes was expanded from 28 to 42 seats. In many customer surveys Finnair's catering and service was rated the best.