Finnair offers shortest flight to Europe

Kim Dong-hwan, Finnair’s country sales manager in Korea

Helsinki Airport offers fast, efficient connections to European cities

By Lee Hyo-sik

Finnair, Finland’s flagship carrier, has been attracting large numbers of Korean business and leisure travelers heading to Europe by offering the shortest and most convenient flight to the continent.

The carrier continues to enjoy a sales boom since launching the Incheon-Helsinki route in June 2008 on the back of its competitive pricing, customer-friendly in-flight services and efficient connecting flights at Helsinki International Airport, according to the head of its operation here.

“Finnair, established in 1912, is one of the most reliable and safest airlines in Europe,” Kim Dong-hwan, Finnair’s country sales manager in Korea, said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “By riding high on this reputation and its safety track record, the carrier has been very successful in Korea.”

Finnair operates a daily flight between Incheon and Helsinki with an Airbus 330-300 plane capable of accommodating 297 passengers. It takes about nine hours to fly to Helsinki from Incheon, making Finland’s capital the nearest European destination from Korea. It takes only eight hours to fly to Incheon from Helsinki thanks to the wind blowing from the west to the east.

Helsinki International Airport is the first airport in Europe to put up signposts written in the Korean language for the convenience of Korean travelers. / Courtesy of Finnair

“It takes more than 11 hours to fly to Paris from Incheon, two hours longer than our flight to Helsinki. On top of our short flight services to Europe, Helsinki Airport offers convenient connecting flights to over 60 European cities,” Kim said. “Our booking rate averages about 96 percent during the peak summer season. All year around, the rate is about 80 percent.”

The manager said over 75 percent of its customers on the Incheon-Helsinki route are Koreans, adding that business travelers, group tourists and individual travelers each account for 33 percent of its customers. “We need to attract more non-Korean travelers in order to make the flight more sustainable and less vulnerable to what happens in the Korean travel market.”

Competing with other European carriers

When asked about how Finnair competes with Air France, Lufthansa and other larger European rivals flying to Korea, Kim said the carrier has established a sound corporate image over the past six years by offering punctual, reliable and safe flight services. “But we still have a long way to go to catch up with other European carriers, which have been around in Korea for many years,” he said. “With more and more Korean travelers paying greater attention to aviation safety, we are emphasizing that Finnair has never been involved in any accident throughout its 90-year history. We are one of the world’s most safely operated airlines.”

Kim then said Finnair places top priority on providing customized services to Korean customers. “We have at least four Korean-speaking crew members onboard and serve Korean in-flight meals. We also offer in-flight entertainment systems in the Korean language.”

Finnair’s Airbus 330-300 aircraft

The carrier operates the youngest fleet, with its aircraft on the Incheon-Helsinki route only three years old, which provides Korean customers with more comfortable and enjoyable flight experiences, the manager said.

Besides its high-quality customer services, price-competitiveness has been an important success factor for Finnair, according to Kim.

“As a latecomer in the Korean market, we have to keep our tickets cheaper than those of Air France, Lufthansa and other European carriers. Our competitors offer direct flights to popular destinations but the majority of our customers transfer from Helsinki Airport to their final destinations. So we offer seats at lower prices,” the manager said. “However, we are not the cheapest airline flying to Europe from Korea. British Airways, Czech Airlines and Middle East-based carriers offer cheaper tickets than us.”

He then said having a Finish Tourist Board office in Korea would help increase the number of Koreans flying Finnair. “If we work together with the Finnish tourist board, we would be able to attract more Koreans to visit Finland and nearby Norway and Sweden. Many Korean travelers have been to Western Europe so it is about time for them to check out many wonderful places in Northern Europe.”

Korean Air and Asiana Airlines do not fly to Helsinki, but Kim wants to steal some of their customers nevertheless. “Normally, Korean travelers have a strong loyalty to national carriers. But things have changed particularly for business travelers. Samsung and other large companies here have begun choosing foreign airlines over national carriers because we offer seats at competitive prices and more convenient connecting flights abroad.”

Easy connections at Helsinki Airport

Kim highly praised Helsinki International Airport, Finnair’s operational base, saying it is a far more efficient and convenient transit hub than airports in London, Paris, Frankfurt and other large European cities.

“Helsinki Airport is smaller but operates more efficiently. The airport enables us to provide transit passengers with punctual and easy connecting flights to over 60 European destinations. It takes a shorter time for international travelers to switch planes,” the manager said. “Airports in large European cities are too large that it takes much longer for passengers to transfer flights.”

Helsinki Airport has also put up signposts written in Korean for the convenience of Korean travelers, the first European airport to do so, according to Kim, who said the airport also offers a fast-track immigration and security check for Korean nationals exiting the nation.

“The airport also makes announcements in Korean. Among Asian passengers, only Japanese and Korean nationals are allowed to use its express lanes when leaving Finland,” he said. “All these services show that Finnair makes every effort to best serve Korean customers.”

The manager then stressed the importance of cooperation between Incheon Airport and Helsinki Airport, saying they can learn a lot from each other. “I hope that the two airports soon sign a cooperation agreement to share their knowhow with each other. For instance, Helsinki Airport is really good at clearing snow from the runaways and deicing planes. On the other hand, Incheon Airport excels in running a wide range of amenity facilities, such as duty-free shops. They should learn from each other.”

About Kim Dong-hwan

Prior to joining Finnair in January 2011, Kim worked at Sharp Aviation K, a general sales agency that sells tickets on behalf of foreign carriers, for eight years.

He first worked as a general sales manager for Finnair, and in March 2013, he became the country sales manager, overseeing the operation of the Finnish carrier in Korea.