Finnair Oyj, the European airline most affected by the closure of Russian airspace, is proposing a strategy shift that would result in a smaller business swinging westward.
“As a first move, as a first response to the Russian airspace shutdown, we have turned our network to the west, and we are also growing flights in Southeast Asia,” Chief Executive Officer Topi Manner said in an interview at the carrier’s headquarters near Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
“We can’t wait for Russia’s airspace to open,” he remarked. “We must adjust to this scenario and transform the firm.” Finland’s national carrier is struggling from a double whammy: first, its Asia-reliant company was hit harder than many of its peers by the epidemic, and then, in February, the restriction on entering Russian airspace shattered its plan. It has built itself a niche by offering the quickest travel times to Asia for transit passengers from tiny European locations.
However, flights from Helsinki to locations such as Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai required access to Siberian airspace. Finnair’s network will now be oriented toward the United States, including places like as Dallas and Seattle, while also increasing services to South and Southeast Asia, most notably India. Helsinki is expected to remain its major hub.
“It makes sense to travel from Delhi or Mumbai to destinations like New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles through Helsinki,” Manner added. “Those linking flows and network logic will remain critical to our operation.”
“Thailand works well, as does Singapore, especially with the Australian traffic,” he added. “As a result, we may have fresh chances in Southeast Asia and, maybe, the Middle East.”
While new routes will help alleviate the impact of Asian flights that Finnair can no longer run financially, they will not be able to totally replace the lost Asian business, according to the CEO, who added that “we will need to shrink the firm when we reassess the strategy.” Resizing Finnair will result in flights at 70% of capacity throughout the summer and leasing out 10% of its aircraft and staff capacity to Deutsche Lufthansa and IAG’s British Airways, aided by revived demand in Europe.
Despite years of consolidation in the aviation sector, Finnair has remained independent.