Finnair sees opportunity in Norwegian’s woes
Finnair may be one of the few airlines in the world that could see its home market expand when the pandemic recedes. The carrier’s Nordic competition is receding, leaving it in a good place to swoop in and grab market share when travel resumes. Its main competition in the region, Norwegian Air, is drastically scaling back its operations. As part of the restructuring plan it hammered out with its home government, Norwegian will go from a 140-aircraft fleet to about 50 aircraft, all narrowbodies. It’s giving up its intercontinental ambitions and will operate a shorthaul network. Norwegian will focus its operations from its bases in Oslo and Copenhagen and will scale back its Helsinki base. “We know they have been closing it,” Finnair CEO Topi Manner said. This will leave a hole in the market that Finnair thinks it can fill. Rival SAS, based in Copenhagen, also is retrenching and has dramatically scaled back its operations. “We think there are 3 million passengers up for grabs in the Finnish market,” Manner said. All this is in the future, though. Finnair flew only 8% of its 2019 traffic in Q4 last year. Its international network has ground to a halt. Domestic routes in Finland, particularly to Lapland, are showing some signs of life, he said.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2021-02-23/oneworld/finnair-sees-opportunity-in-norwegian2019s-woes
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Finnair sees opportunity in Norwegian’s woes
Finnair may be one of the few airlines in the world that could see its home market expand when the pandemic recedes. The carrier’s Nordic competition is receding, leaving it in a good place to swoop in and grab market share when travel resumes. Its main competition in the region, Norwegian Air, is drastically scaling back its operations. As part of the restructuring plan it hammered out with its home government, Norwegian will go from a 140-aircraft fleet to about 50 aircraft, all narrowbodies. It’s giving up its intercontinental ambitions and will operate a shorthaul network. Norwegian will focus its operations from its bases in Oslo and Copenhagen and will scale back its Helsinki base. “We know they have been closing it,” Finnair CEO Topi Manner said. This will leave a hole in the market that Finnair thinks it can fill. Rival SAS, based in Copenhagen, also is retrenching and has dramatically scaled back its operations. “We think there are 3 million passengers up for grabs in the Finnish market,” Manner said. All this is in the future, though. Finnair flew only 8% of its 2019 traffic in Q4 last year. Its international network has ground to a halt. Domestic routes in Finland, particularly to Lapland, are showing some signs of life, he said.<br/>
