newstodate.aero

Jun 07, 2023 (newstodate): Finnair is again adjusting its plans for serving the Indian market.
   The carrier has now announced that flights on the route between Helsinki and Mumbai will be discontinued from August 1, 2023, leaving only flights to Delhi on the monitors.
   Behind the decision is increasing competition in the Indian market, where Air India is now again providing direct non-stop flights to the USA.
   One driver behind the Finnair flights to Mumbai has been India-USA flights via Helsinki Airport as a transfer point, but this has now lost some of its potentials after Air India's new offering.
   Finnair first 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.
   Consequently, Finnair's flights to Mumbai were suspended from April 29, 2009, while plans for services to Bangalore/Chennai never materialized.
   Finnair reinstated flights on the route to Mumbai only from August 2022, with three weekly frequencies, going up to four weekly rotations during the winter 2022/23 schedule.
   Also marking the expected growing importance of the Indian market, and after a 10-year lapse, Finnair appointed a General Manager India - Jaakko Sakari Romu, who took up the position from June 1, 2022.
   Now, Finnair's only route to India will remain daily services to Delhi.