Finnair orders more Embraer 190 aircraft

Finnair has signed an order for four new 100 seat Embraer 190 jet aircraft. The airline used its four remaining options for the over 100 million euro order. The aircraft will be delivered to Finnair in 2008-09, two during both years. Once these new aircraft have arrived, Finnair will have an Embraer fleet comprising 20 aircraft.

Finnair began acquiring Embraer aircraft in autumn 2005 and the fleet currently has ten 76 seat 170 model aircraft. First of the ten ordered 190 models will arrive in December.

"This order will complete our smallest aircraft fleet. The Embraers have brought flexibility to our capacity management. With the help of the Embraer aircraft we have been able to launch new destinations and increase frequencies in our European network. With these smaller aircraft we can also add frequencies to off-peak hours," said Finnair President and CEO Jukka Hienonen.

Embraer aircraft are used in Finnair traffic on domestic routes as well as many Scandinavian and other European routes, which provide smooth feeder connections to Finnair’s Asian flights. The Embraer jets have in part replaced the Boeing MD-80s which were retired from the Finnair fleet last July.

The cockpits of the Embraer 170 and 190 models are completely compatible with each other and the same crews can operate both aircraft types.

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