Blue1 expanding heavily: new aircraft, new destinations
Wow, this is great news for us Finnish travellers
Quote:
Blue1 expanding heavily: new aircraft, new destinations
Blue1, the fastest growing airline in Finland, continues its expansion program in connection with the summer traffic program starting March 2006. New aircraft will join the fleet and the amount of destinations will grow from 14 to 25. Blue1 will go heavily in on Europe with daily connections to such destinations as London, Zurich and Warsaw but also with flights to tourist destinations in southern Europe such as Athens, Rome , Nice and Barcelona.
70 % increase in production - three Boeing MD-90
Three Boeing MD-90, with a seating capacity of 166 seats, will join the fleet existing for the time being of 9 Avro RJ:s and 5 Saab 2000. The production, ASK (available seatkilometer) will increase with more than 70 %.
11 new destinations
Blue1 expands on the European market by introducing scheduled flights starting from March 2006 to:
"This heavy expansion is our response to the market need", says Stefan Wentjärvi, President and CEO of Blue1. Blue1 is already the biggest operator between Finland and Scandinavia, we have a firm grip of the Finnish domestic market and now our next step is Europe. For business travelers we can now offer better connections to destinations as London and Zurich but we can also offer our private travelers smart and price worthy flights to southern Europe", says Wentjärvi.
Blue1 Corporate Communications
More information:
Tom Christides, V.P. Corporate Communications tel: +358 40 7523131
Excellent news. And the best part is that Blue1 doesn´t have the p-class. At least for now. I´m very glad I have flown enough on SAS to have status. It´s very hard get points with the lower earnings, but this is great news for us in Finland. Direct star alliance flights to London and Paris. Many others as well.
Direct star alliance flights to London and Paris. Many others as well.
I wonder which airport in London they will start to serve? They could go to LCY with their Avro's, which would be great for business people but not good for connecting traffic.
I wonder which airport in London they will start to serve?
I wonder which airport(s) in _Finland_ they will serve, with this expanded routemap. It would be nice if we in Tampere could have more than just ARN and CPH.
I wonder which airport(s) in _Finland_ they will serve, with this expanded routemap. It would be nice if we in Tampere could have more than just ARN and CPH.
I would bet Helsinki ... Tampere probably will not get anything new.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harri
I wonder which airport in London they will start to serve? They could go to LCY with their Avro's, which would be great for business people but not good for connecting traffic.
This has been rumoured and would certainly be easier than getting convenient slots at LHR.
I would bet Helsinki ... Tampere probably will not get anything new.
Yes, you are correct, all these routes are from Helsinki accoring to the Finnish language version of this news release:
Quote:
Blue1 suuntaa voimakkaasti Euroopan markkinoille ja aloittaa maaliskuussa 2006 säännölliset lennot Helsingistä seuraaviin Euroopan kaupunkeihin: Ateena, Barcelona, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Lontoo, Madrid, Nizza, Pariisi, Rooma, Varsova ja Zürich.
Great news, especially with the London route!!
With the current inflight service of Blue1 it could actually be worth the effort to fly London-Stockholm via Helsinki, both for the service and the points.
I just hope they won't introduce p-class on Blue1 as well.
I just hope they won't introduce p-class on Blue1 as well.
Last time I was attending the Blue1 customer meeting (EBGs invited to give their opinion about the new service concept) they told that they are very proud to be full-service airline.
If they haven't changed their strategy and opinion then Blue1 will stay as full-service airline.
Great news, especially with the London route!!
With the current inflight service of Blue1 it could actually be worth the effort to fly London-Stockholm via Helsinki, both for the service and the points.
I just hope they won't introduce p-class on Blue1 as well.
They won't, not as long they are the targeted weapon against AY. I wish they would have started service to LGW instead, would have reopened some great IC connections. Stansted will mean great connections to LCC:s...
KF will fly into LHR to connect to *A. Full service will remain until AY is still offering full service. LH even offers full service on their routes to HEL from Germany.
KF will fly into LHR to connect to *A. Full service will remain until AY is still offering full service. LH even offers full service on their routes to HEL from Germany.
Which *A ? BD ? Flying where ? HEL-LHR-JFK or IAD or ... with UA ? CPH is most logical ! LHR is the airport where you do not wish to connect on a thight schedule and you not want to have 5hrs just to be on the safe side... You can be delayed even landing at 6:20 am ! Except the UK local market I miss the logic of such a move... OK, perhaps the can use an existing *A lounge and ground personel but be serious which slots can you obtain in LHR if both the departure and arrival places are the main hub of a competing alliance ?
