Finnair Looks for Partner Airlines Across Nordic Markets

European flag carrier Finnair has confirmed that it has begun discussions with potential cooperation partners on forming a joint venture that will enable a cost effective expansion of the company’s presence in the Nordic countries. The potential joint venture, it says, would accelerate Finnair’s “Nordic Champion strategy” and enable it to establish new bases and expand the company’s network across the Nordic Countries.

“The potential joint venture would expand our home base to cover the entire Nordic region”, said Mika Vehviläinen, Chief Executive Officer, Finnair. “This requires a more cost competitive business model for our short-haul traffic, and this is what the potential partnership aims at. For our customers, this would mean better connections and more opportunities to fly with Finnair. This would also support our Asian strategy through increased feeder traffic for our Asian destinations and better presence in key cities throughout the Nordic region.”

Finnair is undergoing a major restructuring program aimed at improving competitiveness and restoring profitability. In addition to strengthening its position in the Nordic countries, the company also seeks to improve the profitability of its loss-making European traffic and has recently revealed plans to reduce its fleet discontinuing the leases of four Airbus 320s and sub-leasing four Embraer 170s to Estonian Air. The formation of a joint venture model, as Finnair has already established with Flybe Europe in the regional market, would allow Finnair to operate some or all of its European traffic at a significantly lower cost, and will enable the carrier to concentrate more on long-haul flying.

“We continue to discuss with our own personnel the alternatives for considerably lowering the costs of our European traffic. At the same time, we will also assess whether the joint venture could operate a part of or our entire existing European network”, added Mika Vehviläinen.