Finnair to suspend flight to Mumbai

Finnish airline Finnair Plc today said it has decided to suspend its flights from Helsinki to Mumbai from May until mid-October, citing the continuing "unfavourable economic conditions."

However, the flights between Helsinki and Delhi will be operated daily during the summer as planned, the company said in a statement posted in its website.

"The decision (suspension of route to Mumbai) was made due to the unfavourable economic conditions affecting both passenger and cargo sales in India and Europe," the company said, adding that there is also over-capacity on the Mumbai-Europe routes.

At present, the Helsinki-Mumbai route is operated four times a week. "The over-capacity has driven air fare levels radically down and cost level has not declined respectively....

Summer is clearly more difficult than winter season on the Mumbai route," Finnair Vice President (network strategies) Petteri Kostermaa said in the statement.