Many airlines used the pandemic for out-of-the-box considering. Finnair is not any exception. While the Far East, historically so crucial to the airline, has reopened, the war in Ukraine continues to affect the carrier massively. Finnair must discover a method to operate without Russia and access to Russian airspace.
Short-term solutions
Speaking at Routes Europe in Łódź, Finnair’s Aaron McGarvey, Head of Network Strategy and Development, said that the carrier has implemented multiple solutions due to its current predicament.
Photo: James Pearson I Easy Flying.
Enabled by freed-up aircraft, these include wet leasing its equipment and launching flights to Doha in partnership with Qatar Airways. Pre-pandemic, with such ideas.
McGarvey was kept up at night
Australian-born McGarvey didn’t mince his words concerning the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and the way it continues to affect the oneworld carrier, saying,
Overnight, our biggest asset [Finland’s position relative to the Far East] became our biggest nightmare. We had a simplistically beautiful and efficient operation. Previously, one widebody aircraft could operate seven flights every week to Asia – incredible utilization – against five to 6 with other carriers. But widebody production halved. It may keep you up at night.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying.
Finnair to Doha
To assist circumvent the issues, Finnair implemented many things that it will never have considered. These included flying to Doha from Copenhagen (launched on November 1st, 2022), Stockholm Arlanda (November 1st), and Helsinki (December fifteenth).
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It has three day by day flights to Qatar, which the A330-300 exclusively operates. McGarvey said these aircraft were previously used to secondary Asian markets, comparable to Chongqing, Fukuoka, and Xian, which Finnair currently doesn’t serve. It has also used the A330-300 to launch other routes, including Mumbai.
“It was ensuring we could get our aircraft working for us, as a substitute of remaining on the bottom an excessive amount of. It’s an interesting challenge as you get to be super creative… to do stuff you would never normally have the option to do.”
Photo: Sudpoth Sirirattanasakul | Shutterstock.
Leverages partnership with Qatar Airways
The launch of Doha did, after all, revolve around its partnership with Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways codeshares with Finnair to Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm. Based on schedule evaluation using Cirium data, it also codeshares with the carrier to 22 destinations over Helsinki and to Finland’s capital via Copenhagen and Stockholm.
Photo: vovavent I Shutterstock.
Finnair codeshares with Qatar Airways on the Middle East airline’s own services to Copenhagen and Stockholm. And, more significantly, to about 30 places over Doha, including Denpasar Bali, Melbourne, and Sydney.
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Doha is “generally working”
Qatar Airways assumes a percentage of Finnair’s risk on the Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm flights. McGarvey said its Doha operation is “generally working… it’s exciting.” Nonetheless, as with other band-aid solutions, Finnair doesn’t intend to serve Doha long-term:
Serving Doha is a short-term solution. But given there isn’t a end in sight to the war in Ukraine and the lack to overfly Russia, how long is the short-term?
What do you make of all of it? Tell us within the comments.