One of the leading European airlines, Finnair has confirmed it will be wet-leasing an Airbus A330 aircraft from Air Italy for its Chicago and Miami routes for a limited period of time.
The short period is estimated to be from 12th October until 31st October and Finnair is having to hire in the Air Italy aircraft as one of its own long-haul aircraft was damaged at Chicago airport on 25th September when a high loader accidentally hit it.
In order to continue to operate the Chicago and Miami routes the airline has had to wet-lease in the A330 from Air Italy, while the damaged aircraft gets repaired. "The aircraft damage in Chicago was very unfortunate. With high-quality wet lease from Air Italy, we can continue operating our Chicago and Miami flights and offer our customers a smooth travel experience regardless of the aircraft change," says Jaakko Schildt, Chief Operating Officer, Finnair.
Air Italy aircraft and crew will be operating Finnair flights to Chicago and Miami as follows:
All flights between Helsinki and Chicago (AY09/AY10) from Oct 12 to Oct 29. Finnair has four weekly return flights between Helsinki and Chicago, the flight days are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Five return flights between Helsinki and Miami (AY07/AY08) on the following dates: Oct 14, Oct 16, Oct 21, Oct 23 and Oct 30.
The wet-leased aircraft from Air Italy has 24 full-flat seats in business class and 232 seats in economy class, all with a seat-back in-flight entertainment system. While the flight is operated by Air Italy crews, Finnair will also post two cabin crew members to each flight, to try and ensure Finnair standards are applied to the in-flight service. However, because of the change in carrier and standard, Finnair is allowing customers to cancel their flight or change the departure date free of charge.
