Finnair 'fully committed' to strengthening Asian network, plans increased US capacity in short term

21 October, 2021

Finnair CEO Topi Manner said the carrier is "looking for possibilities to redeploy capacity" to North America temporarily, in line with restrictions limiting travel to Asia (Routes Online, 18-Oct-2021). Mr Manner said Finland's ongoing travel restrictions are "a big hold back", adding: "Our network is tilted towards long haul [and] Asia", but said the carrier is "fully committed" to prioritising Europe-Asia connections in the long term. As previously reported by CAPA, Finnair plans to serve several US destinations from Stockholm Arlanda in winter 2021/2022, adding to existing services from Helsinki. Mr Manner commented: "When Norwegian basically let go of their long haul fleet, there was a bit of room in the Stockholm Arlanda market and we decided to tap into that potential".