Finnair intends to re-introduce a pair of redeployed Airbus A330s to its own network when a Qatar Airways co-operation agreement ends early next year.
Unveiled in August 2022, the co-operation involved deploying A330s on routes between Nordic capitals and the Qatar’s hub at Doha.
The measure emerged as Finnair was forced to restructure its network to reduce reliance on Asian routes, which were being badly affected not only by the pandemic but also the closure of Russian airspace.
Speaking during a third-quarter briefing, Finnair chief executive Turkka Kuusisto said the co-operation – currently in place on the Copenhagen-Doha and Stockholm-Doha sectors – will end on 15 January.
“Those aircraft will be allocated to Finnair’s own traffic,” he says, indicating that they will be used on such routes as Miami or Dubai.
Finnair has four owned and four leased A330s in its fleet. It says it will be able to “productively deploy” the jets from the Qatar agreement.
Both Finnair and Qatar Airways are Oneworld alliance members, and the two will continue to codeshare.
Finnair’s long-haul fleet will expand in the fourth quarter of this year with the delivery of another Airbus A350-900.
It is one of two outstanding A350s ordered by the airline; the final one will arrive in the second quarter of 2026.
Finnair says the changes will allow it to “increase capacity at a competitive cost level, despite the capacity constraints prevailing in the aircraft market”.
