Due to operational reasons Finnair leases an E190 aircraft and crew from WDL Aviation, a German airline company from July 1 to August 31, 2019. The leased aircraft will operate all our flights to/from Hanover and some of our flights to/from Hamburg.

In the flights operated with the leased aircraft, the cockpit and cabin crew come from WDL Aviation. They serve customers in English and German. There is also one Finnish-speaking cabin crew member from Finnair on board. Finnair service concept is followed.

If your customer wishes to change or cancel their flight due to the change in the operating carrier, you can request a refund or reroute to other oneworld carriers according to seat availability.

Please check instruction on the news from March 15th.

IATA Accredited Agents are reminded to get themselves familiar with changes to IATA Resolutions 830d, which take effect from 01 June 2019. The changes relate to how Travel Agents must collect customer contact information and ensure this is made available to airlines, for the purposes of airline contact during irregular operations. More information can be requested from IATA. For general guidelines on how to insert contact elements in PNR, please see Finnair Easy > Reservation & Ticketing > PNR > Contact elements in PNR.

In 2019, Finnair will renew its distribution strategy by offering differentiated content to agencies that participate in the new Finnair NDC Partner Program. This move is in line with recent market developments and the changes in consumer purchasing behavior.

Agents joining the Finnair NDC Partner Program have the following options:

• 1. Build a Direct Connect with Finnair (using an NDC API)
• 2. Rely on aggregation platforms using NDC technology
• 3. Use the new Finnair Light Agency Platform targeted at smaller travel agencies (to be launched in 2020)

In this program Finnair has also partnered with Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that will implement NDC connectivity to Finnair. Finnair will allow agencies that are committed to the program early access to differentiated content using these GDS tools (for the duration of the transition period).

“We believe these new distribution solutions will benefit all players in the value chain – and want to create win-win opportunities for all involved”, says Rogier van Enk, VP Digital Revenue & Distribution, Finnair, “There is a strong momentum towards these new solutions, and 2019 will be a critical year for us as we push for a long-term simplification of distribution through NDC, ONE Order, and various other initiatives.”

"Travel agencies are important to Finnair today and will continue to be in the future. We don’t believe that a general distribution surcharge is the way to reach NDC adoption. In the Finnair NDC Partner Program, we will also be working together with our partners to support them in the transition to the new solutions”, adds van Enk.

Differentiated content for program participants will be available in the following European Point of Commencement markets: Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. In these markets, Finnair will also be introducing finnair.com only campaign fares. The change will not affect travel commencing from other markets.

To access the new content from October 1, 2019 onwards, Finnair and its travel agency partners should agree on the terms for joining the Finnair NDC Partner Program by July 31, 2019.

More information: https://www.finnair.com/int/gb/easy/finnair-ndc