Finnair is first oneworld member in Europe to decorate aircraft with special alliance livery

14 agosto 2008

Finnair has become the first oneworld® member airline in Europe to decorate one of its aircraft with a special livery - to mark the tenth anniversary of its election on board the world's leading quality alliance and the airline's 85th birthday. 

The design now adorns the newest of its flagship Airbus A340s, which flies across the airline's longhaul routes, in particular its growing Asian network.  Aircraft OH-LQE is the fourth A340 to join Finnair's fleet as part of the airline's longhaul fleet renewal which will see it operating a unified Airbus A340 and A330 fleet by early 2010 on its routes to Asia and the USA.

The special livery also now features on one of the airline's 11 Airbus A319s - registration OH-LVF - flying from August on its Finnish domestic and European routes.  

Note to editors:  Print quality pictures of the A340 in its new livery can be downloaded from www.finnair.com/gallery or www.oneworld.com/ow/news-and-information/gallery/list?categoryID=5&subCategoryID=19

The design is similar to that used by partner LAN Argentina on one of its A320s since April, with fuselage emblazoned with the word "oneworld" in letters of up to around two metres high alongside the tailfin designs of all ten members of the alliance. 

Japan Airlines became the first oneworld member to decorate its aircraft in a special alliance livery, adorned on two Boeing 777s to mark its addition to the grouping in 2007.

oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch, in Helsinki today for the unveiling of the aircraft in the special livery, said: "oneworld is proud and delighted to have Finnair on board the world's leading quality airline alliance as our Nordic member. 

New destinations join oneworld network in Latin America and Central Asia: Three new destinations are lining up to join the oneworld network, in Latin America and Central Asia:

  • Punta del Este is now the second destination in Uruguay on the alliance map, with LAN serving the coastal resort direct from its Santiago hub throughout the southern hemisphere summer season, with two flights a week in addition to its dailies between Santiago and the Uruguayan capital Montevideo.
  • Tampico will be the 15th destination in Mexico served by oneworld, when affiliate American Eagle starts flying there daily non-stop from Dallas/Fort Worth hub.
  • Baku is to rejoin the alliance network from April, with Royal Jordanian launching flights to the capital of the former Soviet republic Azerbaijan from its Amman hub with an initial two Embraer 195s a week.

oneworld is the only alliance with a truly global network, as the only grouping with member airlines based in South America, the Middle East or Australia. These three new additions take its network to 693 destinations worldwide.

Download oneworld's new screensaver and dream up your ideal global trip: oneworld has come up with the perfect way to help globetrotters dream up their ideal world tour - a new screensaver. It displays some of the most popular routings taken by passengers flying on one of its round-the-world tickets, along with photos of some of the 700 cities on the oneworld map and pictures of its ten member airlines. So, when you are not using your computer, you can daydream about where you would love to travel.

To help turn those dreams into reality, oneworld.com also has an itinerary planner, to help you plot your trip around the world. oneworld offers a wider range of alliance fares and sales products than any of its competitors - and it is the only alliance with a truly global network as the only airline grouping with any member based in South America, the Middle East or Australia.

To download the new screensaver, go to http://www.oneworld.com/ow/news-and-information/screensaver

BA to add all-business flights between London City and New York: British Airways is to launch direct business-class-only flights between London City and New York in 2009. London City is the closest airport to the UK capital's financial district. The airline has ordered two Airbus A318s for the operation. They will be configured to offer just 32 seats that convert into fully-flat beds. Passengers will be able to check-in just 15 minutes before departure.

The airline has not indicated which New York gateway it will use for the new service, which will be in addition to BA's flights from London Heathrow - eight a day to JFK and three a day to Newark.

 

Cathay to serve Chennai and Dragonair Bangalore in Indian expansion: Cathay Pacific is to serve Chennai from 1 June with an initial four flights a week, while its sister Dragonair, now also part of oneworld, will fly to to Bangalore from 1 May with daily Airbus A330-300s. Cathay Pacific will also add three more flights a week to both Delhi and Mumbai, giving a daily schedule on both routes, rising later to ten a week to Mumbai and two a day to Delhi. Both Chennai and Bangalore are already on the oneworld network through services by British Airways.

 

Iberia to open route to 'Pearl of the Adriatic' Dubrovnik: Iberia is to launch services to Dubrovnik, from 7 June with two Airbus A320s a week from its Madrid hub, rising to three a week during the peak season. It will become the third oneworld carrier to serve the Croatian coastal destination, joining British Airways and Malév Hungarian Airlines. The so-called "Pearl of the Adriatic" will be the fifth new destination in Central and East Europe added by Iberia in the past three years.

Malév to resume transatlantic routes in May: Malév Hungarian Airlines will resume its two transatlantic routes in May, with New York service flying from 2 May, five times a week initially and then daily from 12 May, and Toronto from 26 May five times a week.

Japan Airlines to serve Beijing from Tokyo Haneda: Japan Airlines is to operate flights from Tokyo Haneda to Beijing in time for the Olympics in the Chinese capital this summer, in addition to its regular schedule from Tokyo Narita. It will also increase frequencies from Narita to Busan, Hangzhou, Moscow, New York JFK and Paris CDG, and from Osaka to Qingdao.

Malév to move Moscow operations to Domodedovo from Sheremetyevo: Malév Hungarian Airlines is transferring its Moscow flights from 30 March from Sheremetyevo to Domodedovo, where they will operate alongside virtually all other oneworld carriers serving the Russian capital. British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines and Royal Jordanian all use the more modern Domodedovo, which will also be the gateway for American Airlines' services when it starts flying to the Russian capital from June. Malév's move will leave Finnair as the only oneworld carrier at Sheremetyevo.

 

JAL to extend Premium Economy to Paris, JFK and San Francisco: Japan Airlines is to offer its new Premium Economy fourth cabin on flights between its Tokyo Narita hub and Paris CDG from April, New York JFK from August and San Francisco from September. Meantime, JAL will expand its new domestic First Class service onto its Tokyo Haneda-Fukuoka route from 1 April.

American on track to be first in US to offer Aircell hi-speed internet in-flight: American Airlines is on track to be the first US carrier to offer passengers hi-speed internet access in flight. It has completed its first aircraft installation of Aircell's internet broadband connectivity solution and plans to roll it out during the rest of this year across its fleet of 15 Boeing 767-200s, which primarily fly transcontinental US routes.

When it goes live, passengers will be able to use the system to access the internet, their VPN (virtual private network) and e-mail through all wi-fi enabled laptops, PDAs and portable gaming devices. The airline promises access speeds "similar to wireless, mobile, broadband services on the ground". The system will not enable cell phone or "voice over IP (Internet Protocol)" services.

Depending on how the 767 trials go, American could extend the service to the remainder of its domestic fleet.

BA launches new carbon offset scheme and green initiatives: British Airways has made its voluntary carbon offset scheme more user friendly for customers as part of a series of new environmental initiatives.

Its new offset scheme uses United Nations certified emissions reductions to help finance clean energy projects in developing countries. Customers offsetting their flight emissions will be supporting a new wind farm in China's Ningxia province and run-of-the-river hydro electric plants in the Santa Catarina region of Brazil and Gansu province, China.

Passengers will now be invited to buy their offset in one transaction when they book their flight on ba.com.

Cathay Pacific, Dragonair and Qantas also offer their passengers the opportunity to offset carbon emissions resulting from their flights.

More awards won by oneworld member airlines: oneworld member airlines have been collecting more awards:

  • American Airlines has been named best international airline for 2007 by readers of Travel Weekly, the leading US business-to-business information source for the travel industry.
  • Malév Hungarian Airlines has been named Best Airline in Eastern Europe for the second year running by readers of leading US business travel magazine Global Traveler.
  • Dragonair, a oneworld affiliate member since 1 November, has been voted best Asian airline in the 2007 Hurun Report Best of the Best Awards, based on a survey of 660 multi-millionaires based in the China Mainland.

oneworld in brief: oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, plus some 20 affiliates, including, from 01 novembre 2007, China's Dragonair.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets.

oneworld was voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fifth year running in the 2007 World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by some 170.000 travel professionals, including more than 110.000 travel agents in 200 countries.

"Finnair has contributed a huge amount to oneworld since its election on board ten years ago - and it is tremendous to see its enthusiasm for the alliance as strong as ever in becoming the first of our members in Europe to decorate aircraft in a special alliance livery."

Finnair Deputy CEO Henrik Arle said: "Decorating two of our aircraft in this special livery is our way of reflecting what an asset oneworld is to Finnair, and to our customers, shareholders and employees.  Joining the alliance was one of the most significant developments for Finnair throughout our 85-year history.

"Working with our nine other high quality partners and 20 or so affiliates in oneworld, enables us to offer our customers the most attractive network worldwide, access to many more of the world's best lounges, and greatly extended frequent flyer privileges.   For Finnair, oneworld provides us with revenues and costs savings we simply would not enjoy if we were not part of the alliance - benefits particularly welcome in these times of particularly severe financial challenges for our industry."

About Finnair

In December 1998, Finnair was the first airline invited to join oneworld following the unveiling of the alliance by its founder members.   Finnair started offering oneworld services and benefits in September 1999. 

The sixth oldest airline in the world, it celebrates its 85th birthday this year, tracing its origins to forerunner Aero, which was established in 1923. 

Today, it operates scheduled services to more than 60 destinations in approaching 30 countries.  In recent years, it has refocused its longhaul operations on Asian routes - with its Helsinki hub ideally located geographically as a gateway between Asia and Europe.  It now carries more traffic on these Asian services (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) than on its European network.  

It boarded almost 7 million passengers in 2007, operates more than 250 departures a day and employs 9.500 people.  It operates almost 60 aircraft.

Finnair is the one of the fastest airlines between Europe and Asia, flying to 11 destinations in Asia via Helsinki. Its destinations include Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in Japan; Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou in China; Mumbai and Delhi in India; and Bangkok in Thailand.

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, and around 20 affiliates including American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Mexicana and its affiliate Click Mexicana will join the alliance in 2009. 

Between them, these airlines:

  • Serve almost 700 airports in nearly 150 countries, with some 9.000 daily departures.
  • Offer nearly 550 airport lounges for premium customers.
  • Carry 320 million passengers a year.
  • Employ more than 250.000 people.
  • Operate almost 2.500 aircraft.
  • Generate more than US$100 billion annual revenues.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own.  These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges.  

oneworld was voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fifth year running in the latest (2007) World Travel Awards.