SPBanker

Everything is very vague, on purpose of course. Route by route thing is only mentioned in that article, direct quote from Vehviläinen talks about possibility of BCN. In a longer interview in TalSa Vehviläinen talks about "taking a break" from looking for a strategic partner.

intuition

"Taking a break" makes some sense. They exhausted opportunities under current situation, and are awaiting something to happen in the market. Vehviläinen's view is that the industry needs consolidation, and if no one else is willing right now, then what can he do?

SK is in need of more money, but no one knows if the owners are willing anymore. LH put a hold on everything for the year. And so on.

I guess they are playing the game of "Svälta räv" and all participants decided to stay in the game for one more round...

FlyerTalker688786

I sometimes wonder whether Finnair will become the next Malev...or Flybe Nordic...

intuition

Not really sure what you mean by that? Finnair owns flybe nordic...

Malev's trouble was the liquidity chock when Hungarian government subsidies was deemed unlawful. Many years neglect could not be handled in a few weeks. When all suppliers started to request advance payments, the cash was gone in a few days.

AY is mainly owned by a government, yes that's true. But it's operations are not subsidized.
Also, it has a liquidity. 400 MEUR in cash, 200 MEUR in local commercial papers and 200MEUR in unused credit facilities.
Surely any company can be put into a liquidity squeeze if credit is withdrawn, but I think a comparison to Malev is inaccurate.

Finnair has about 60% of it's sales in euro but only 35% of it's costs. Therefore the current weakness of the euro might benefit AY as that will lower the prices in JPY, RMB, SEK and GBP while keeping revenue and costs under control.

oliver2002

When Airlines need to maintain their route network while waiting for aircraft to join the fleet, they usually manage with wetleases. The market in Europe for such deals is pretty tight right now, so signing with companies like SmartLynx is often the only option.

Their are pretty transparent about their fleet, never saw EASA documentation posted in such detail: http://www.smart-lynx.com/?Doc=4

I see AY still has 5 A321 on order from Airbus, I suppose they are managing till the aircraft arrive?


http://www.airbus.com/company/market/orders-deliveries/

NoWindowSeat

Interesting information...I very much doubt AY is taking any more A321s to their fleet anytime soon..luckily we have AY fleet experts on the board who can confirm what's the real situation but I think this MAD thing has nothing to do with a/c deliveries..

intuition

It is just that the strategy is to get rid of the complete Airbus narrow body fleet altogether. (A repeat of the flybe nordic deal, transferring a complet fleet to a LCC but keep some control)

The article hints that Smart Lynx was used since no partner were willing to take over all A32x's, but maybe it was just a capacity issue for this route.

mkgrip

AY has a firm order on 5 A321ER:s with deliveries starting next year, however, AFAIK those were ordered to replace the B757:s, not to add to the fleet.

NoWindowSeat

OK so these are then cattle configured flying prisons taking charter pax to where ever the masses are going, correct?

TTL

Slightly OT: I think it is the purpose of the journey, traveling companions, and good mood of the passenger that can cheer up life also in the "cattle class". I admit, I have enjoyed even a trip to Canaries onboard a cramped TUI-fly Nordic 757 from HEL to LPA with good friends, pre ordered special meals, and sufficient number of pre-ordered 0.75 l champers bottles. Of course also took the whole company to PP lounge to wait the boarding message. Return was not equally joyous, since similar arrangements were not possible.

FlyerTalker688786

I mean whether Finnair will either:
1>, Give up all short haul and let it run by companies like Flybe Nordic
or
2>, Change the whole concept of short haul to LCC

Malev...cease operation...Will Finnaire be the next in oneworld alliance to go?

intuition

The strategy is to transfer the shorthaul traffic to a partner. They have been very clear on this. It may not be LCC in the ryanair sense, but it will be less thrills than today.

The comparison to Malev is still inaccurate for the reasons I stated above.

mkgrip

I don't think there there have been any confirmed data on the cabin config ect. I guess it depends whether AY puts more value on fleet flexibility and makes them the same as the rest of A321 or jamming the greatest possible number of tourists on the LPA plane.

miikkak

Whatever Finnair decides to do, they shouldn't forget interline revenue... Because of using Smatlynx or Flybe aircraft, some oneworld partners like LAN can't issue tickets with many AY3xxxx flights and they have to issue tickets with *A operated connections...

Helsinflyer100

Just like so many of the rest of you commenting here, I was baffled as to why Finnair has suddenly become Smartlynx Airlines on so many flights, and why they have done it in such a sneaky way.

Of course, I guess we all know the reason: to save money, at the expense of Finnair's customer service, customer loyalty and corporate integrity.

I used some of my points for a trip to Barcelona and after a great deal of effort (because Finnair has so few points-seats place these days) I got my ticket, only to notice the small text that the return flight is 'Operated by Smartlynx'. No other information is provided (well otherwise the customer might realise that they are being scammed).

I phone up Finnair sales once and they said the plane was just rented from Smartlynx, but when I phoned again after doing a little more research online they said it was a Smartlynx plane with Smartlynx staff.

It is not only the customers who are kept in the dark though, it is also the Finnair sales people. They had to disappear to ask someone in order to answer my questions, and when I asked them if I have my platinum baggage rights, they had no idea and said they would let me know the the next evening. Wow! Finnair expects us to know the consequences of having a flight operated by Smartlynx even though they give no information on the ticket and even their sales staff do not know.

They might as well have allocated my point to a Ryannair flight

I think Finnair's top management are now so far up in the clouds that they no longer have any understanding of their customers. In order to save money (and their enormous bonuses) it seems they are prepared to mislead their customers, become a low service airline and give up all sense of loyalty to their loyal customers. If only the prices reflected this.

Meanwhile, while they do what they will, I have other options and I will take my loyalty elsewhere.