Finland’s aviation industry has been unusually busy this summer.

THE global aviation industry has been shaken in recent years with the decline of the old national carriers and growth of budget airlines. The low-cost airlines were latecomers to Finnish airspace but are now transforming the market.

This summer Finncomm Airlines caused a scramble in the industry when it announced it would no longer fly routes to Jyväskylä, Pori or Seinäjoki. The young companies Air100 and Wingo, interested in the possibilities, eyed the Pori route. Meanwhile, a few weeks later Finncomm changed its mind about Seinäjoki, saying it would reopen service to that airport.

Then airBaltic entered the fray, saying it would like to double its flights in Finland within twelve months. Rumours have also circulated that airBaltic was interested in buying Finncomm outright. The Riga-based airline currently offers service to nine Finnish cities.

Almost simultaneously with the Finncomm shakeup, Finnair entered into an agreement with UK-based Flybe to handle some domestic feeder routes. "We aim to strengthen our feeder operations on routes important for Finnair during the coming winter traffic season," Finnair Vice President Ville Iho explained.

Although the summer has been unusually busy in Finland's aviation industry, much has changed in recent years. New budget carriers have entered the Finnish market while existing low-cost airlines have increased routes. Many are regional: Norwegian flies to Stockholm and Oslo, Wizz Air serves Eastern Europe, Easyjet goes to the UK and France, airberlin flies to Berlin, while Aer Lingus flies to Dublin. The heavyweight of European budget carriers, Ryanair, flies from Tampere to nine European destinations, including a new route to Oslo.

Finnair has concentrated on long haul routes between Asia and Europe, but it is paying careful attention to its domestic situation. Finnair admitted in its second quarter report that its share of the domestic market had fallen but it saw some encouraging signs. The demand for domestic flights showed the first signs of growth in two years.

For the second quarter Finnair announced that total sales have increased by almost 11 per cent, but its losses grew to 28 million euros.

DAVID J. CORD - HT
Toby Melville