Finnair's Asia Strategy

Finnair is the world’s sixth oldest airline. It was founded on November 1, 1923 as Aero O/Y. The carrier gone through lots of tough times including both world wars and faced an uncertainty after those wars. The war also forces the 1940 Olympic Games that were supposed to hold in Helsinki to be cancelled. But, the airline is still staying strong today as one of the leading carriers in Europe. Not until June 1968, the name Finnair was only officially adopted. Today, the airline is a member of oneworld alliance since 1999. It is ranked 4-star by Skytrax and carriers around 10 million passengers per year to 15 domestic and 55 international destinations. The airline is also rated as one of the safest airline in the world.

Recently, the airline begins flying to Chongqing, one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in China. In terms of population, the city is just behind of Shanghai and Beijing. This service will be served by both Airbus 340-300 and Airbus 330-300 aircraft four times weekly. In addition to Chongqing, Finnair has daily flight services to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. There is an interesting trend among European carriers choosing to fly new routes to secondary Chinese cities instead of flying to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou alone. In April, Air France commenced a three weekly service from Paris to Wuhan, operating by Boeing 777-200ER with 309 seats. While back in March, Lufthansa resumed three weekly flights to Shenyang using an Airbus 340 aircraft. The flight will continue to fly to Qingdao, a new destination from Lufthansa. While, IAG member British Airways is expected to increase flights or start a new route to China very soon after successfully acquired bmi’s slot at Heathrow.

This is the departure hall of Helsinki’s Airport’s Terminal 2. The main hub of Finnair’s operation. 

Finnair has 8 Airbus 330-300 and 7 Airbus 340-300 aircraft in their fleet. These are the only aircraft in Finnair’s fleet that are capable of flying more than 6 hours. Besides that, the carrier has an order of 11 brand new Airbus 350-900 which delivery is expected to start in 2015. The rest of Finnair’s fleet consists mainly of Airbus 320 family aircrafts and the Embraer E-jets. Apart from flying to New York, Finnair deploy all their long range aircraft to destinations in Asia, as they aim to be one of the biggest transfer hubs in Europe for flights from Asia. The carrier has an added advantage to others. The airline’s main hub in Helsinki-Vantaa Airport offers the shortest connections between Asia and Europe. Besides, Finnair’s Helsinki hub will not be that busy and chaotic compare to Paris, London and Frankfurt. The airport was listed as one of the most punctual airport in Europe; it has been designed expressly with transfer traffic in mind. All arrivals and departures are located in the same building. I compare the travel times of major European airlines to some Asia airline hub below:

*One way travel time from Europe to Asia

Destination: (one-way)	Paris (Air France)	Amsterdam (KLM)	London  (British Airways)	Frankfurt (Lufthansa)	Helsinki (Finnair)
Beijing	9hr50min	9hr20min	9hr50min	9hr15min	7hr50min
Tokyo	11hr30min	11hr	11hr35min	11hr5min	9hr40min
Hong Kong	11hr35min	11hr15min	11hr30min	11hr5min	9hr50min
Bangkok	11hr20min	10hr45min	11hr15min	10hr35min	10hr5min

Looking at the table above, Finnair always has a shorter flight time to any Asia destination compare to any airlines in Europe. Previously, the airline was the first airline in Europe to operate a non-stop service to Japan in 1983. Soon after that, the carrier quickly introduced flights to Singapore via Bangkok on the same year. This shows that the airline has a long standing history of operating flights to Asia, as the airline always advertise themselves “The fastest link to Europe from Asia” in commercials. Despite being relative small compare to the likes of IAG, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM; Finnair operates up to 72 weekly flights to 11 Asia destinations. In China alone (including Hong Kong), the carrier operates 25 weekly flights, almost the same number as IAG’s 26.

In May 2010, the airline launched its Vision 2020, hoping to be the number one carrier in the Nordic region and also the top three carriers flying to Asian destinations. The carrier hopes it can increase its Asian presence by offering the best flight connections and competitive price. Part of this strategy is the launch of a revised livery for its fleet, featuring a basic all-white aircraft with a stylized “F” on the aircraft’s tail and the company’s name in a new font.

This Airbus 330-300 aircraft of Finnair’s is carrying the airline’s new livery which features an all-white aircraft, a different font for its company name on the fuselage of the aircraft. 

Rumors circulating around that International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways and Iberia are interested to buy some stake in the airline after the Finnish government announced that it has plans to reduce its stake in the carrier. Perhaps if such a deal gone through, I could see Finnair does some integration in their route network to Asia with British Airways. The deal will certainly benefit Finnair more by offering another alternative for oneworld and British Airways passengers to travel via Helsinki which provides a better connection to Asia rather than travelling through the congested Heathrow.

Overall, Finnair has found its own formula to continue flying in such a turbulent industry. The Asian market is full of potentials and keeps expanding. In future, I expect Finnair to continue explore more flights to the Asia region and provide the best and fastest link between Europe and Asia. 

By,

rafanited39

(The Editor)

sunnaero@gmail.com

15/05/2012

Transaero Airlines Unusual Fleet Strategy

Russia’s second largest carrier-Transaero Airlines(UN) is founded in 1990 and currently flies to more than 100 domestic and international destinations. The airline’s biggest base is situated in Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport(DME), the largest airport in the Moscow Area and Russia. UN has also based some of their operations based at Russia’s Second largest city- St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport(LED) and the newly-improved Vnukovo Airport(VKO). Transaero Airlines begin their life as a charter airline by leasing aircraft from Russia’s national carrier-Aeroflot. But, now the airline operates as an independent carrier in Russia. The carrier can consider themselves performing quite well given that the carrier doesn’t receive any state aid(unlike what national carrier gets) and constantly having plans to further expand their network and fleet. The airline is also a seriously candidate for Star Alliance, which currently doesn’t have a Russian member in their alliance. Russia’s national carrier-Aeroflot is currently with Skyteam, while the other independent carrier S7 Airlines is with oneworld.

The airline recently grabbed some headlines in the aviation world by ordering new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, and also leasing second-hand aircraft non-Russian aircraft from lessors. This is seen as a move to ensure high safety standard given Russia’s poor safety record. But we look closely at the airlines order book, something quite astonishing happens. The airline has almost every commercial airplane in this world! (If we calculated those future orders and the currently airline fleet).

Photo by Airbus. How Transaero’s

Airbus 380 will look like with their livery. The airline has signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for 4 of this superjumbo. 

 The Current Transaero Fleet:

Aircraft Type:	Total:	Order:
Airbus 320neo	---	8
Airbus 380-800	---	4*
Boeing 737-300 Boeing 737-400 Boeing 737-500 Boeing 737-700 Boeing 737-800	3 5 15 --- 6	--- --- --- 6^1 ---
Boeing 747-300 Boeing 747-400 Boeing 747-8I	3 15 ---	--- 4^2^3 4*
Boeing 767-200 Boeing 767-300	3 10	--- ---
Boeing 777-200ER Boeing 777-300	9 4^2	--- ---
Boeing 787-8	---	4
Tupolev-214	3	---
Sukhoi Superjet 100	---	6
Total:	76	36

*Orders are not confirmed, but memorandum of understandings have been signed

^¹: Ex-Malev aircraft, will be delivered in 2012

^²: Ex-Singapore Airlines aircraft

^³: Ex-Japan Airlines aircraft

Looking at the airline’s fleet, the carrier virtually operates all types of aircraft in the world from Boeing to Airbus to Tupolev to Sukhoi jets. The only commercial jets missing from the lists are the Airbus 330 and Airbus 340 family aircraft. Previously, the carrier did operate older Airbus 310 and Boeing 757 in their fleet. Looking at the future, they are going to have Sukhoi jets, Airbus 320neo and Boeing 737-300, -400, -500, -700 and -800 operating short-haul route and domestic Russia route. Both Airbus 380 and Boeing 747 is going to operate medium or long-haul high capacity routes. While both Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 is likely to operate medium-haul route or high capacity short-haul route. The Tupolev aircraft is likely to be retired in this few years.


It is quite surprising that Transaero decides to operate so many different kinds of aircraft. Airlines across the world are keep downsizing and simplifying their fleet to further reduce their cost. Airlines like Emirates Airlines are going to operate 3 types of aircraft in the future: The Boeing 777, Airbus 350 and Airbus 380. Instead of simplifying their fleet, the carrier decides to operate and order planes from different manufacturer. It appears to me the management of the airline might be an aviation enthusiast! They want to have every single kind of aircraft on this planet! It is interesting how the airline is going to work once all their ordered aircraft arrived.

The airline is going to be the first customer in Russia and CIS that operates the eco-efficient Airbus 320neo. The airline has ordered 8 Airbus 320neo aircraft on December 2011.

By, 

rafanited39

(The Editor)

sunnaero@gmail.com

07/05/2012