NICOLA BRADLEY / LONDON
Finnish carrier Finnair will transform Nordic Airlink into a budget operation following its acquisition of a majority stake in the Swedish airline.
Nordic is wholly owned by managing director Gunnar Ohlsson, who is selling an 85% stake to Finnair, which he says is "capable of developing us and taking us forward in the right direction".
The Finnish airline does not have a low-fare arm, and is facing increased competition from other budget carriers such as Norwegian and the Scandinavian Air-lines' new operation, Snowflake.
"Nordic Airlink has a fleet that is well-suited to this purpose," says Henrik Arle, executive vice- president for scheduled passenger traffic at Finnair.
Nordic operates four Boeing MD-80s and two Saab 340s on charter and scheduled services, with its Swedish flights operating from Stockholm Arlanda airport, where the new budget airline will be based. With Finnair operating 14 MD-80s, there would be potential spares, training and other synergies.
Source: Flight International
