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karatecatman
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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject: After Delhi, Finnair now plans Mumbai/Chennai -- Helsinki |
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Buoyed by the overwhelming response for its Delhi-Helsinki flight, Finland’s Finnair will be launching Mumbai-Helsinki in June and proposes to start a flight from Chennai later next year, says a UNI report.
The Delhi-Helsinki flight, being operated thrice a week, will be made a daily service from May 19 and the Mumbai- Helsinki flight will start from June 17 initially for five times a week.
The plan is to make Mumbai-Helsinki also a daily service by this year-end, says Finnair Indian Sub-continent Director Taina Tornstrom.
South India is becoming an important destination for Finland with mobile phone giant Nokia setting up its manufacturing facility in Chennai, and Bangalore can be next on the radar with increasing cooperation in software between Indian and the Finnish company, she said.
Finnair is the only airlines operating between India and Northern Europe and takes the least time - six and a half hours - covering Delhi-Helsinki.
She said the Mumbai-Helsinki flight will be one of the few European airlines to operate during daytime leaving India’s financial capital at 8 a.m.
This will also provide a connecting flight to New York with just 35 minutes stop at Helsinki making it the fastest, next only to direct non-stop flights to US.
The company targets 75 per cent load factor on the new Mumbai-Helsinki route after the first initial month, she said, adding the Delhi-Helsinki flights have recorded 80 per cent load since January 2007.
The reason for choosing Mumbai us that it is India’s biggest centre of business and logistics and there is a big potential for tourist traffic to Europe, Tornstrom said.
The company will be acquiring 10 more A-330 or A-340 aircraft, which will be used for countries including Japan and India.
The new flights will have Indian cabin crew and will also serve Indian food. |
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Nimish
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Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 9757
Location: Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:41 pm Post subject: Re: After Delhi, Finnair now plans Mumbai/Chennai -- Helsink |
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| karatecatman wrote: | | Buoyed by the overwhelming response for its Delhi-Helsinki flight, Finland’s Finnair will be launching Mumbai-Helsinki in June and proposes to start a flight from Chennai later next year, says a UNI report. |
Going from no flights to daily flights to BOM/DEL/MAA in a year or two sounds like an aggressive move from AY! Only the Gulf carriers expand like that  |
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AKLDELNonstop
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Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1066
Location: Auckland
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:44 pm Post subject: Re: After Delhi, Finnair now plans Mumbai/Chennai -- Helsink |
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| Nimish wrote: |
Going from no flights to daily flights to BOM/DEL/MAA in a year or two sounds like an aggressive move from AY! Only the Gulf carriers expand like that |
Perhaps a lesson for AC in this.
Cheers
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Geniuses are always misunderstood in their lifetimes. |
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avbuff
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 5031
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Going from no flights to daily flights to BOM/DEL/MAA in a year or two sounds like an aggressive move from AY! Only the Gulf carriers expand like that Smile |
trust me nimish ,, if EK had it their way they would introduce
an hourly shuttle service from BOM - DXB with a 400 seater B777-300
but congrats to AY , hope they give a nice jolt to LH , BA , AF et al |
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Nimish
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Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 9757
Location: Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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| avbuff wrote: | | but congrats to AY , hope they give a nice jolt to LH , BA , AF et al |
I doubt if they can really do that due to their poor American network. The reason the LH/BA/AFs of the world do well in India is primarily due to the American network and the 6th freedom operations. AY will be restricted to the European network, unless they bring a few American cities online again (with timings to match the India flights). |
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stealthpilot
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Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 2325
Location: BLR, DXB
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:06 am Post subject: |
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I believe they are advertising India-New York with just a 35 mins transit time in Helsinki. Duno how well that will work and as you said, they don’t have the large American network that the big boys have.
Good luck anyway, it's nice to see new carriers looking aggressive.
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