Finnair to launch daily direct flight to Lyon

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

In April 2012, Finnair will introduce a daily direct route from Helsinki to Lyon in east-central France. The new route connects seamlessly with Finnair's Singapore-Helsinki route.

“With the new route to Lyon, passengers from Singapore will have the option of travelling to another exciting European destination, with the same convenience that our Finnair connections provide from Helsinki to 50 other European cities,” says Petteri Kostermaa, Director of Sales, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Situated where the Rhône and Saône rivers converge, Lyon has a population of over 1.2 million, and its metropolitan area is the second largest in France. A convenient tram service connects Lyon-Saint Exupéry International Airport to the city centre in just half an hour. The airport is also served by direct high-speed TGV train connections to other parts of France and Italy. Besides being a major industrial and commercial centre Lyon is also an excellent hub for tourists travelling to hike or ski in the Alps, for example near Grenoble or Albertville.

The route will be flown twice daily as of 2 April 2012. Morning flights from Helsinki to Lyon will depart at 7:50am and daily afternoon flights at 4pm. Morning flights from Lyon to Helsinki will depart daily at 10:45am and evening flights at 6:50pm. The route will be flown with Finnair's modern Embraer E-190 jet aircraft. With the addition of the new Lyon route Finnair now has smooth connections from Singapore to five cities in French-speaking Europe: Paris, Lyon, Geneva, Nice and Brussels.

Finnair also announced June 2011 traffic figures. Measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, traffic rose 13.3% compared with June 2010. This increase is due largely to the launch of Finnair’s daily scheduled flights from Singapore-Helsinki on 31st May 2011.

Source = Finnair Singapore