Aussies are following Finnair’s footsteps, with the carrier reporting strong bookings out of Australia in the wake of recent changes.
Since the introduction of new and seasonal schedules to popular destinations, as well as the strengthened ties with fellow oneworld alliance members, and the ringing in of new A350s in October this year, Finnair is topping the charts down under.
Finnair’s country sales manager for Australia, NZ and New Caledonia, Geoff Stone, said sales had increased across each month from January to June 2015 compared to last year and there were already “good numbers” for the second half of the year.
“We have had a strong pick-up from bookings for new destinations Finnair is now servicing including Greece and Malta as well as considerable interest in our recently introduced Dublin flights,” Stone said.
“Finnair’s expanded codeshare agreement with Qantas between Singapore and Perth is also providing the perfect complement to our Hong Kong hub ex-Perth through Cathay Pacific.”
With Finnair having placed an order for a new fleet of 19 Airbus A350 XWBs and to be the first airline in Europe to operate this aircraft, Stone said bookings were streaming in for Finnair’s daily services to Shanghai on the first long-haul route to be operated by the Airbus A350 on October 25 2015.
This will also be followed by services to Beijing, kicking off daily A350 service on November 21 2015.
Finnair’s peak season frequencies to Bangkok will be served with a combination of A350 and modern A330 aircraft from December this year, which include full-flat business class seats and economy comfort seats.
Daily services to Hong Kong from February 1 2016 and to Singapore from May 5 2016 will also be operated with a combination of A350 and A330 aircraft.
Meanwhile Finnair, together with Visit Finland and the Finnish tourism industry, is currently joining forces to create a ‘Stopover Finland’ product menu for passengers wanting to see two destinations in one trip.
The menu will feature products ranging from one day stops to longer stays, for example, a visit to Santa Claus in Rovaniemi or a night in untouched Finnish wilderness, and will be announced shortly for purchase to travel over the European winter.
