Finnair will significantly increase its flights to Japan and become one of the few airlines to offer a connection to all three of Japan's most important cities. Finnair currently flies to Tokyo daily. In the summer, there will also be daily flights to Osaka and an additional sixth flight per week to Nagoya. Significant share of the passengers on Finnair's Japan flights are Japanese. Due to its comprehensive route network, Finnair can offer customers from three Japanese locations connections to more than 50 European destinations. "Helsinki is the ideal stopover location in traffic between Japan and Europe due to short flight times. Japanese consider Finnair to be the best airline and Helsinki to be the most efficient airport in flights directed to Europe. Business passengers especially value Finnair's flight frequency and good connections to Europe," says Finnair's Vice President Route Strategy and Traffic Planning Petteri Kostermaa. "Our sales in Japan have developed very positively in the early part of the year and the volume of business travel in particular has grown. Our marketing work has produced results and our excellent product stands out to our advantage," says Finnair's SVP Sales & Marketing Mika Perho. Finnair's vision is to be the most desired option in Asian traffic and number one in the Nordic countries. The cornerstones of Finnair's growth strategy are Asia's growing markets, the best flight connections and cost-competitiveness. Japanese traffic is a key part of Finnair's Asian strategy. Finnair Communications 7.5.2010 Further information: Petteri Kostermaa, VP Network Strategies and Management, tel. +358 9 818 8504 and Finnair Media Desk tel. +358 9 818 4020 or media.desk(a)finnair.com Finnair blogs: http://blogs.finnair.com Finnair on Facebook: www.facebook.com/finnair Photobank: www.finnair.com/gallery Finnair Group website: www.finnairgroup.com via.Helsinki: www.viahelsinki.com