newstodate.aero

Nov 24, 2022 (newstodate): Still not substantiated by any official announcements by Finnair, sources suspect the carrier to be mulling plans for more traffic to India from Helsinki.
   Industry sources thus claim that Finnair will announce the opening of flights from Helsinki to Bangalore "in the coming months", while speculations are also that flights from Helsinki to Chennai may be opened further down the road.
   The idea of adding flights between Helsinki and Bangalore, India's "Silicon Valley", have long been circulating, now further accentuated by the closure of Russian airspace leaving Finnair's routes to Asia under stress due to overly long flying times.
   Finnair launched services from Helsinki to Delhi on November 1, 2006, and to Mumbai on June 26, 2007, and was considering opening a third Indian destination, Bangalore or Chennai, by the end of 2008 when the global financial crisis hit the aviation business.
   Finnair's flights to Mumbai were, however, suspended from April 29, 2009, while plans for services to Bangalore/Chennai never materialized.
   Finnair has now reinstated flights on the route to Mumbai from August 2022, with three weekly frequencies, going up to four weekly rotations during the winter 2022/23 schedule.
   Also marking the growing importance of the Indian market, and after a 10-year lapse, Finnair has appointed a General Manager India - Jaakko Sakari Romu, who took up the position from June 1, 2022, leaving a similar position for Finnair in Greater China where he served for half a year.