Finnair’s new short-haul model has to be ‘ruthlessly’ low-cost, says CEO Vehviläinen

This is the year of Europe's legacy carriers finally addressing their unsustainably unprofitable short-haul networks, and the answers so far have primarily been to strip costs out of existing models to make the carriers competitive against low-cost rivals. But Finnair's decision to outsource its short-haul flying to a joint-venture partner suggests hybrid models can only achieve so much savings, while the structure of legacy carriers has inherent higher costs that cannot be taken out. Starting afresh becomes another, better, solution.

And a tabula rasa today in Europe, or at least Scandinavia, cannot be used to launch a hybrid carrier, Finnair CEO Mika Vehviläinen tells CAPA. Rather, when Finnair's new short-haul operation commences in 1H2013, it must be "ruthlessly" low-cost, Mr Vehviläinen said. Yet this poses quandaries for Finnair's business model of efficiently linking Europe with Asia as long-haul passengers, premium in particular, will be subject to LCC-style service on onward connections.

Conversely, lower-cost feeder flights could make Finnair's long-haul services more price competitive.