FINNAIR
Finnair Launches Guangzhou Route
Lie Flat Beds Hit the Road
Finnair’s e-tickets on United Airlines flights

Finnair Launches Guangzhou Route
Finnair’s first non-stop flight to Guangzhou (also known as Canton) departs
from Helsinki-Vantaa airport on Sunday September 4 at 17.00.

Finnair will be flying to the ultra-modern new airport which opened earlier
last year at Guangzhou. The airport is the first one in China to include a
specially designated transit area for connecting passengers. The airport
also provides excellent onward connections to the rest of mainland China,
Hong Kong and Macao.

Departures are on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with return flights from
Guangzhou on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flight time is about ten
hours.

“Finnair has purposefully concentrated on Asia in its intercontinental
traffic since 2000,” says Henrik Arle, Executive Vice President and COO,
Scheduled Passenger Traffic. “Guangzhou is already the fourth Chinese
destination for Finnair, along with Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. We
shall also be opening a new route to Nagoya in Japan in spring 2006.”
The airline’s expansive network offers competitive connections for both
Asian and European customers through Helsinki-Vantaa airport, at which
changeover times can be as short as 35 minutes.

In addition to the extension of the route network, Business Class cabins on
Finnair’s Boeing MD-11 aircraft serving inter-continental destinations are
also being renewed with the installation of new lie-flat bed seating. The
installation is taking place over the coming winter and all Boeing MD-11
Business Class cabins will carry the seats by May 2006.

As of next spring, Finnair will fly 140 inter-continental flights every
month on seven Boeing MD-11s to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and New York.

Lie Flat Beds Hit the Road
Finnair’s new lie-flat beds, to be installed in all Boeing MD11 aircraft
Business Class cabins in coming months, are being presented on a special
marketing road show across Europe. The tour started with a presentation at
the TOKE building at Helsinki airport, and moved to Tallinn, Estonia earlier
this week. It continued on to Riga in Latvia and then to other parts of
Europe. The road show, which lasts through the whole of September, returning
to Finland at the start of October, also presents Finnair’s new Asian route
products.

The seats have met with a positive reception so far. The seats, which extend
in a silent movement, can accommodate traveller as tall as two metres,
according to Tero Lohimäki of service product development. In the expert
opinion of purser Jarmo Mänttäri, the seats are much more comfortable and
convenient from a diner’s pint of view, too.

“The new seating has aroused a great deal of interest,” says Erika Laine of
Finnair’s Contact center. “Customers already want to know in which aircraft
the seats are available.” Business Class cabins on Boeing MD11s will have
their seating capacity cut from 42 to 36 to make way for the seats, and the
seat pitch will increase from 127 centimetres to 160. New improved LCD video
screens will also be installed in Business and Economy cabins. Installations
will be completed in April 2006, and Finnair will offer even greater comfort
on its 140 monthly inter-continental flights to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka,
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and New York.

Finnair’s e-tickets on United Airlines flights
Finnair and United Airline have started e-ticket cooperation and the Finnair
e-ticket may now be issued for United Airlines’ flight segments.
The e-ticket can not be issued for a UA flight if the reservation includes
an open segment or an infant.

Finnair’s e-ticket partners at present are:
The oneworld airlines Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay
Pacific, Iberia, LAN Airlines/LAN Peru and Qantas/Australian Airlines.
Interline e-ticket partners are Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, KLM,
Northwest and United Airlines.