Having seen a 20 per cent increase in longhaul capacity since winter 2017, Finnair is now looking to accelerate its growth in the South-east Asian, Australian and New Zealand markets.
The airline has appointed Tamas Hanyi as general manager Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore. Hanyi is tasked with the development of Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand source markets, using Singapore as the transfer point to Helsinki and beyond.
Hanyi was at the recent ITB Asia to reinforce the message that Finnair offers the shortest and fastest route between Asia and Europe, with the airline flying to more than 100 destinations in Europe via Helsinki.
While China, Japan and South Korea are the biggest Asian growth markets for the airline today, South-east Asia is also important, Sebastian Grossmann, Finnair’s regional manager – Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, shared in a separate interview with TTG Asia.
He added that South-east Asian feeders are showing “a good amount” of growth, especially from Singapore to the Nordic countries.
Watch the full interview with Grossmann here:
Jonne Lehtioksa, area vice president, Asia & Oceania, commercial unit at Finnair, described Singapore and Australia as high growth, critical markets for business and leisure traffic to Helsinki and beyond. Approximately 30 per cent of seats on the Singapore-Helsinki flights were filled by Australians.
Lehtioksa also noted the different buying behaviours in the markets. The Singapore market comprised mostly a millennial crowd that sought new European destinations such as Iceland and Sweden, and travellers were more digitally savvy and willing to book online. Australians and New Zealanders, on the other hand, relied more on travel agents.
