Finnair and Meridiana will start cooperating on the Helsinki-Florence route as of 28 March. The route will be flown using Meridiana's Airbus A319 aircraft and it will open up to Finnish customers a direct connection to the cultural landscape of Central Italy. The arrangement will also establish in the summer season a connection from Florence to Finnair's Asia destinations. The code-share flights will operate twice per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, during the summer season. Flights will depart from Florence at 13.00 and arrive in Helsinki at 16.00. Flights will depart from Helsinki back to Florence at 17.00, arriving at 20.10. "Cooperation on the Florence flights will bring feeder traffic to our routes from Helsinki to Asia. We also want to offer our customers a destination in Central Italy, one of Europe's most important centres of Western culture and art history," explains Hannu Sundberg, Finnair's Vice President International Airline Partnerships. Finnair's customers can buy flights from today, and all flights will carry a Finnair flight number. The connection between Florence and Helsinki replaces the Finnair route to the nearby city of Pisa. Finnair Plc Communications 22.2.2010 Further information: Hannu Sundberg, Finnair's Vice President International Airline Partnerships, tel. +358 9 818 8502 Finnair blogs: http://blogs.finnair.com Photobank: www.finnair.com/gallery Finnair Group website: www.finnairgroup.com via.Helsinki: www.viahelsinki.com