Finnair and Flybe are about to sign a deal that will see the UK low-cost regional carrier take on a third of the Finnish carrier’s European flying from October 2012.
The deal will also see Flybe flying all 12 of Finnair‘s Embraer 190 aircraft on their behalf on these European routes.
Flybe and Finnair have already worked together in the past, forming domestic carrier Flybe Nordic out of the remains of FinnComm airlines. This deal will further bolster their relationship, helping Finnair to reduce its costs and debts, and Flybe to increase its European coverage – an ambition it has never been shy about discussing.
Finnair will also be retiring a number of Embraer 170 and Airbus A320 aircraft in a further bid to reduce costs, and will use this new partnership as an opportunity to retrain European pilots on their long-haul Airbus A330/A340 fleets for the blossoming Asian network.
Whether we’ll see aircraft repainted into Flybe colours for the partnership is not known. Details of which routes are to be flown are also unknown at this time.
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