Finnair Airlines

Finnair Airlines to launch direct flights to Chennai, Bangalore :
Rovaniemi , Finland (PTI): Enthused by the Finland government's assertion that direct air connectivity is helping bring Indian IT and telecom professionals from India to the country, Finnair Airlines is looking to add new business destinations in India, starting with Chennai and Bangalore.

"India has proved to be a vital point on air travel, both in terms of business and tourist travel and we are planning to streamline our operation by adding some new business destinations," Kari Stolbow, Director of Finnair's Indian Subcontinent, told PTI.

Chennai and Bangalore are on the radar for starting direct flights as there have been increased traffic of telecom and software professions from these two southern cities of India , he said.



"In all probability, Chennai would be the next route of Finnair followed by Bangalore ," Stolbow said referring to the increased movement of telecom professionals of Nokia plant.

He said Finnair's two direct flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Helsinki has given satisfactory results in short span of two to three years of its operation and effort would be made to overcome any shortcomings.

"We are satisfied with the overall developments which have taken place after we started two direct flights from Mumbai and Delhi but still there are things which can be improved," he said, adding that Finnair has been giving the shortest non-stop flight to any European city from India.

The role of Finnair Airlines in country's economic progress was also lauded by a top official of Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency (RRDA) Ltd, who said that the direct air- connectivity has helped in wooing Indian IT and telecom professionals.

RRDA's Managing Director Juha Seppala said that Indian IT major Wipro starting its operation from Rovaniemi, northern Finland, is one such example and Indian presence have been felt in Steel and Heavy Industry with ArcelorMittal venturing into research programme in Helsinki's Rautaruukki company, popularly called Ruukki.

He said economic policy of Finland is suited for foreign enterprises to invest and Indian companies should make effort to make its presence in other sectors like steel, metal, forestry and wood.

Seppala said Rovaniemi, which has a population of around 65,000 and can be reached in an hour by air route from Helsinki , is evolving as an international city with companies from Russia, Sweden, Germany, China and African countries already starting its venture.

He said the advantage of investing in Finland at present was that the country has not been as much affected by the global meltdown as other European countries.

Seppala attributes this to the economic policy started a decade ago, when the country witnessed one of the worst recession.

"The economic policy is framed in such a way that it is not difficult to tide over the present crisis," he said by stressing that the banking system of Finland was in robust shape.

Stolbow, who shared the same view, said India should also not worry with the global economic crisis as the human resources available there would help in overcoming any economic difficulty.