Aurinkomatkat-Suntours and Finnair Leisure Flights form a strong combination in the Finnish tourism market. As far as leisure trips are concerned, Finns are accustomed to putting their trust in Finnish service. Aurinkomatkat-Suntours is the market leader in package tour production and Finnair Leisure Flights provides transport for customers of Aurinkomatkat and other tour operators to and from their holiday destinations. The Leisure Traffic division's high brand recognition in the domestic market creates a strong foundation for future development in Finland and in neighbouring countries.
In the last week of 2004, the world was shocked by the natural catastrophe in Southeast Asia. Finnair Leisure Flights acted quickly and, in cooperation with the Group's other units, tour operators and Finnish officials, organised ten evacuation flights and one ambulance flight to carry more than 2,600 Finnish tourists home from the devastated areas.
Although reconstruction in the areas affected by the catastrophe will take years, tourism will continue to be important for the economic recovery of Thailand. In addition to alternative holiday destinations, Aurinkomatkat-Suntours and Finnair Leisure Flights will continue to offer Thai destinations to their customers.
Aurinkomatkat-Suntours
Aurinkomatkat-Suntours enjoyed a record year in 2004. The foundation for growing business was created by the most respected brand in the sector and by product quality based on long experience and continuous renewal. Product development is driven by Aurinkomatkat-Suntours' ability to recognise the Finnish holidaymaker's needs.
The weather in Finland influences demand for holidays in the sun. Uncertain weather in 2004 increased travel demand in the autumn as well as sales of trips for 2005. Aurinkomatkat-Suntours is the market leader in Finland with a market share of more than 35 per cent - measured both by customer volumes and revenue.
Aurinkomatkat-Suntours is a pioneer of sustainable tourism in the sector. Through the Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development, the company encourages tourism subsectors, such as the hotel business, to adopt environmentally friendly operating practices, and urges tourist destinations to take the requirements of sustainable tourism into account at the planning stage.
Finnair Leisure Flights
The Finns' own leisure flight company carries most Finns to their holidays in the sun - even when the tour operator is some other than the Finnair Group's Aurinkomatkat-Suntours. All significant tour operators in Finland use the services of Finnair Leisure Flights. Finnair Leisure Flights has a market share of around 80 per cent of Finnish package tour traffic. Capacity can be adjusted to annual fluctuations by leasing additional aircraft in the summer, when demand is higher.
Alongside package tours, sales of individual seats on leisure flights are growing. Electronic business is being developed in this context. Seats are also sold through travel agency chains. A further area of development is sales of additional services during flights.
The unit is being developed under the Finnair brand in a more independent direction, whereby product concepts can deviate from scheduled traffic services according to the needs of the holiday passenger. Development work is being carried out in cooperation with tour operators.
Leisure Flights' success is based on its ability to act fast, allowing it to react quickly to changing customer needs. In addition to the operational efficiency programme, profitability is improving due to a favourable market for aircraft leasing.
Finnair Leisure Flights mainly uses as its fleet 227-seat Boeing B757 aircraft, which are ideally suited to leisure traffic. The Finnair fleet of seven aircraft is the most efficiently used B757 fleet in the world. |