Finnair Cuts Destinations Due to Environmental Considerations

DALLAS - Finland's national flag carrier, Finnair (AY) is continuing with its sustainability strategy, announcing that it will stop flying to two regional destinations due to economic and environmental considerations.

The Finnish company, which will turn 100 years this November, has made the decision to cut down its flights from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) to Tampere -Pirkkala (TMP) and Turku (TKU) airports to lower the CO2 footprint of the routes. This change will be effective as of May 1, 2023.

Perttu Jolma, Vice President of Network Management at Finnair, stated, "The flights to Tampere and Turku are very short, and the relatively low passenger numbers – around 35 percent load factors – on these routes cause them to have a higher CO2 emission per passenger than many other short routes in our network. Road, or rail, transportation is a more sustainable option for connections between Helsinki Airport and these cities."

Despite these flight cancellations, passengers will not be stranded and will remain connected to AY's network by a total of four daily bus departures to the capital city during the summer of 2023, both leaving from the central bus stations of Turku and Tampere, respectively.

All flights between Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku were operated by Finnair ATR 72 aircraft, previously belonging to the defunct NºRRA. Photo: Colin Cooke (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Finnair's Sustainability Plan

The centenary anniversary of AY is approaching, and along with this special event, the Vantaa-based company has decided to take action toward sustainability by reducing its environmental impact.

Cutting unprofitable non-ecofriendly flights from its schedule, AY has set the goal to halve its CO2 halve emissions from the 2019 levels and, with luck, be fully carbon neutral by the end of 2045.

Apart from operational changes, the company is also implementing new modifications on board their aircraft affecting passengers' experience. Among them, the end of onboard duty-free product purchases and the drop of a second economy class meal service on long-haul flights have helped AY to become a pioneer in sustainable travel worldwide.

Featured image: The Airbus A320 family is the backbone of Finnair's intra-European network. Photo: Alberto Cucini/Airways

https://airwaysmag.com/finnair-records-pax-increase/