Boeing MD-11 Bids Farewell to Finnair's Passenger Traffic

Today's flight AY022 from Delhi to Helsinki is the final passenger flight in scheduled traffic of Finnair's MD-11 aircraft. Finnair began its ongoing conquest of Asia with the wide-bodied MD-11 at the turn of the millennium, and this type of aircraft has been in the company's service for nearly 20 years.

To date Finnair's MD-11 fleet has behind it around 400,000 flying hours and more than 50,000 landings. Overall, Finnair's MD-11s have carried around 14 million passengers.

"In 1990 Finnair introduced the MD-11 on a flight from Helsinki to Las Palmas, becoming the first airline in the world to operate the aircraft. In its time the aircraft, which is excellent in terms of its performance, represented state-of-the-art technology," said MD-11 Fleet Chief Rabbe-Holger Wrede.

Finnair's SVP Communications Christer Haglund, added, "Over the years Finnair has been one of the pioneers in the use of the best modern technology and now it's the right time to move on to new, more environmentally friendly aircraft. Our long-haul fleet now consists of Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft. In 2014 our fleet will be further supplemented by totally new Airbus A350 aircraft."

The company's long-haul fleet will now consist only of A340 and A330 aircraft, which will harmonise the long-haul fleet with the European fleet and its A320 series aircraft. The fleet modernisation significantly improves both profitability and environmental efficiency. The new Airbus long-haul aircraft consume 20% less fuel per passenger than the MD-11 they replace.

The two MD-11 owned by Finnair are on sale. The possibility of continuing to use them in Finnair's cargo traffic is also being assessed.

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