Finnair kikker etter partner

Finnair is looking for a European partner by summer, says a Reuters report. The partnership would help cut its losses on short haul routes as it would feed passengers to its Helsinki hub where it operates its profitable services to the Far East.

According to the report Mika Vehvilainen, Finnair’s CEO, does not see a conflict in a possible partnership with Air Berlin, although it is 30 per cent owned by Etihad Airways.

"The products are very different. Helsinki offers much better connectivity and faster connections," Vehvilainen said. He also said there were “more than a few, but less than ten” other potential partners, but declined to give any further details.”We are talking to a number of companies and we are aiming to have something potentially in place by summer in terms of a letter of intent or something along those lines and aiming to start the operations in the first half of 2013”.