Finnair orders 12 Airbus Aircraft

Today, Finnair, announced that they are going to be ordering 12 new aircraft from Airbus. The ordes consists of 9 A350-900's and 3 A340-300's. They also have an option for 4 additional A350's These aircraft are intended to evntually replace the MD-11 in Finnair's long-haul fleet, by 2012. Finnair is expecting that the A350's will be delivered between 2011 and 2013. Finnair hopes to continue to its fleet modernization through this aquisition. According to Finnair, the A350 will use only 66% of the fuel that the MD-11 is currently using. By ordering the A350 and the A340, Finnair will increase the commonality with the rest of their modern fleet of A320's

Personally, I think that the A350 will be a wonderful aircraft and will serve them for years to come. Unfortunatly, one of the true beauties of the skies, the MD-11 will have to be sacrificed because of this. Finnair is one of the last Western airlines to operate the MD-11 in commercial service. The thing that I find most interesting about this order is the A340's. I personally think that they must have been given a really good deal on the A340's, because if they are trying to conserve fuel, then, I think that the A330-300, with two engines would have been the more economical choice.

~MD-11