Malaysia Airlines is to become a member of the oneworld alliance. Finnair flies daily to Singapore, providing easy access to the neighbouring country of Malaysia.
Malaysia Airlines was unanimously elected a oneworld member designate by the chief executives of alliance members at a meeting held in association with IATA’s 2011 World Air Transport Summit.
"We warmly welcome Malaysia Airlines to the oneworld alliance. For Finnair, Malaysia Airlines' joining of the alliance will mean for a denser network of destinations in Asia and will also provide excellent support to our new Singapore route by increasing the number of onward connections for our business passengers," says Paavo Virkkunen, Finnair's Vice President responsible for oneworld relations.
A formal alliance membership agreement will be concluded soon and Malaysia Airlines is expected to become a full member of oneworld in late 2012. Discussions between Finnair and Malaysia Airlines on deepening cooperation will begin immediately.
In addition to Finnair, the members of the oneworld alliance are American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Mexicana, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 as well as around 20 subsidiaries. The Indian airline Kingfisher and the German airline airberlin will join the alliance during 2011.
When Malaysia Airlines joins oneworld, the alliance's network will grow to cover nearly 950 destinations in 150 countries. The alliance will have a combined fleet of nearly 2,600 aircraft, operating some 10,000 flights per day.
Finnair Plc
Communications
6.6.2011
Further information:
Paavo Virkkunen, Finnair's Vice President responsible for oneworld relations,
tel. +358 9 818 8580
Finnair Media Desk tel. +358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com
Photobank: http://gallery.finnair.com
Finnair blogs: http://blogs.finnair.com
Finnair on Facebook: www.facebook.com/finnair
Finnair Group website: www.finnairgroup.com
Feel Finnair: http://feel.finnair.com
via.Helsinki: www.viahelsinki.com
Finnair's mobile service: m.finnair.com