Finnair to stay independent and stick to Asia strategy, says CEO

Finnair will remain a stand-alone airline and stick to its Asia-focused strategy while adding new routes to the United States, CE Topi Manner said on Friday. Finland's national carrier has bet heavily on providing connections to Asia from its Helsinki hub so the recovery of Asian traffic from the slump caused by pandemic restrictions is particularly important. Finnair expects the business environment to return to close to normal in the second half of this year following the pandemic disruptions. "We are optimistic about summer," Manner said, adding the airline expected countries like Japan and South Korea to lift travel restrictions towards summer in the northern hemisphere. "We believe Asia will open up eventually. In the meantime, we are partially pivoting to North America," Manner said. Finnair's new summer destinations will include the US cities of Dallas and Seattle, he added. He was speaking after the airline announced a E200m investment in renewing the cabins of its long-haul fleet, including a new premium economy service and redesigned business cabin. "This is a trend that has been accelerated by the pandemic. People are willing to upgrade the experience," he said. Manner said the new cabin class was being added to address increasing demand in premium leisure travel, while also introducing a new business class seat called "the air lounge", a nest-like shell that offers more privacy. It does not recline but modifies to allow for horizontal sleeping. "We as a carrier of course need to differentiate and we have chosen to differentiate with quality," he said.<br/>