I am afraid that in future, we will enjoy 28" seat pitch on scheduled short-haul flights.

As always, we need to read between the lines when interpreting what the AY press releases actually mean. In this case, the Finnish version was a little more clear than the English translation. In English they claim, "The new aircraft will deliver improved synergy between Finnair's scheduled and leisure flight operations." In Finnish, they stated, "Uudet lentokoneet mahdollistavat reitti- ja lomaliikenneohjelmien aiempaa
paremman yhteensovittamisen ja tehostavat laivaston käyttöä."

The Finnish version practically means that they will use the very same planes on both scheduled and charter flights. This, of course, results in two alternatives: A) charter-configured seat pitch on all new A321ER's, or B) scheduled-configured seat pitch on all new A321ER's. Wil I be a pessimist or a realist if I claim that A) is the way AY plans to go?

The next step is of course to unify the A321 fleet by reducing seat pitch on the existing planes, as well...