Finnair and Qantas have announced an agreement for Finnair to wet-lease two A330 aircraft with crew to partner airline Qantas for two years, to be followed by a two-and-a-half-year dry lease of two A330s to the Australian carrier.
The deal "is part of Finnair’s determined efforts to ensure the optimal use of its A330 fleet, which is range-limited in its deployment in Finnair’s own long-haul operations due to the closure of Russian airspace," which has lengthened the time and distances needed to reach Asia from Finland, the carrier announced.
"We are delighted to expand our collaboration with our oneworld partner Qantas. This agreement enables us to fully deploy our A330 fleet in profitable operations”, says Antti Tolvanen, Senior Vice President, Network and revenue management at Finnai
The wet lease of the first aircraft will start in October 2023, with the second in early 2024, when they will be used on Qantas' flights from Sydney to Bangkok and Singapore.
The wet lease period will see Finnair pilots operating scheduled flights from Helsinki to Singapore and from Helsinki to Bangkok, then continuing flying scheduled Qantas flights between Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney, before returning to Helsinki, Finnair explained, with the cabin crew to be provided by Finnair partners in Singapore and Bangkok, and the aircraft maintenance is done by partners at Qantas' destinations.