ITTN was delighted to attend a breakfast round-table event hosted by Finnair, this morning.
The informal gathering was jointly hosted by Leena Gardemeister – Finland’s Ambassador to Ireland; Anssi Partanen, Finnair’s Market Director for Europe; Catherine Grennell-Whyte, from ATTS Travel Representation Solutions; and Katherine Cochrane, from the PC Agency.
While Finnair marked its 100th anniversary last year, the airline is gearing up to celebrate its 10th anniversary of serving a direct route between Dublin and Helsinki, with the actual occasion set to be marked next March.
Mr Partanen noted that over the past 10 years Ireland has grown into a great and important market for Finnair; more than holding its own against naturally larger markets like the UK and Germany.
Between 2019 and 2023 Irish arrivals to Helsinki, on Finnair, rose by almost 70% and flight capacity on the Dublin-Helsinki route increased 38% in the last 12 months.
A huge attraction to those travelling on the Dublin-Helsinki route is the connectivity to Asian and Far Eastern markets; something which Finnair is famous for; with Japan being a leading destination choice.
In fact, Asian markets and routes make up one third of Finnair’s total revenues.
The same level of capacity increase out of Dublin is not on the cards. However, this is less to do with the controversial passenger cap at Dublin Airport and more to do with the timing of Finnair’s fleet expansion, Mr Partanen said – although, he did add that from this winter Finnair will be refurbishing its planes on the Dublin route.