Finnair’s Asia Strategy Sets It Apart From Rivals, Makes It Attractive Acquisition

Twice a day, at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the cafes and shops of Helsinki Airport echo to the languages of Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul. For a few hours, the Finnair Oyj base bustles with Chinese businessmen, Japanese students and vacationing Koreans, all changing planes at a terminal fortuitously positioned on the shortest flyway between Europe and Asia. “We’re a Gulf carrier -- but from the Gulf of Finland,” Finnair Chief Executive Officer Pekka Vauramo says in an interview among the diverse clientele of the carrier’s premium lounge, inviting comparisons with Mideast airlines such as Emirates that have built their strategies around a similar model. Across the Baltic, his SAS AB counterpart Rickard Gustafson is focused on serving corporate Scandinavia with a network of high-frequency European routes and just a handful of long-haul services. The models aren’t only deeply contrasting; they may prove pivotal in determining whether the companies have a role to