Last week, the airline Finnair was celebrating a full 40 years in providing long-haul flight services marking the anniversary of its flights to the city of New York.

The Finnish airline carrier has been servicing flights to New York City since 15th May 1969, which was the representation of its first ever intercontinental connection.

At the initial stages of the 15 years of flight services, the carrier operated through Amsterdam and Copenhagen before a direct link become available in 1984 when the airline introduced the new DC-10 craft: its first wide bodied plane.

Currently New York City is one of Finnair’s major holiday destinations and as such the carrier offers daily direct flights for holiday makers and travellers leaving from their hub in Helsinki.

In recent years, Finnair began placing a larger emphasis on their long-haul network services after expanding its airport hub at Helsinki’s Vantaa airport and adding additional craft to their fleet to enable a better range of flight services to holiday makers travelling to far-flung destinations.

This year the airline has also been expanding its presence in Europe with the launch of new services from Helsinki to the popular holiday destination of Tuscany in Italy.

Helsinki’s Vantaa Airport has launched a new express service point which is now open for the many families that pass through the airport on their city break holidays. In addition to this, when holiday makers and travellers book their flights with Finnair, any passengers who have special needs and those families travelling with children will receive special preference.

The new Express Point is now available to all travellers who have booked to travel on one of Finnair’s international routes which launched on 2nd January this year. The new Express Point is located within Helsinki Airport’s second terminal building. It is available now, and is running services from the early hours of the morning until late evening.

The Head of Customer Services at Finnair, Markku Remes, made it clear that this initiative was put into place by the airline to make flying easier and more comfortable for those customers who may have experienced difficulties with previous flights out of Helsinki.

Remes said:

‘A large number of families with children and other passengers with special needs travel on our flights. We want to make the travel experience even easier for these important customers.’

Checking in 36 hours before the flight through an online method is also available with Finnair.

This year Finnair have Christmas menus to offer their passengers on all of their European flights when they fly in either intercontinental or business class over the festive break.

Finnair’s seasonal air fare will be available on all flights of two hours or more between 12th and 25th December 2008. All the meals are to be served by their staff who will be wearing Christmas uniforms made especially for the Scandinavian airlines’ staff. The uniform will include a bright red tie or scarf that will add to the airline’s festive atmosphere.

Economy passengers have various options on their European flights, including the choice of a warm Christmas meal for either dinner or lunch on Finnair Airbus flights which last over two hours.

For business class customers who are travelling from Helsinki Airport, they are to be served fresh salmon and horseradish sauce as a starter with roast turkey fillet and gingerbread sauce as a main course accompanied by a traditional Swedish turnip rosti.

For Finnair’s corporate travellers taking intercontinental flights, they will receive an additional bonus which will include Nordic traditional glogg, a type of mulled wine which will be served with gingerbread cookies.

Anybody taking flights to and from Helsinki’s Vantaa airport will also enjoy being entertained by seasonal music and could well be greeted by Santa Claus himself over the season.

Finnair has recently announced that its Silver Wings lounge in Helsinki has reopened.

The Silver Wings lounge has been given a complete makeover over the summer and has been made much more spacious, with an interior design made to reflect the core values of Finnair – security, freshness and creativity.

Silver Wings is located in the Schengen area of the Helsinki Airport, above the departure gates 26 and 26a and is able to offer 86 travellers seats.

The lounge is expected to host approximately 6,500 passengers each month and will aim to offer a more friendly and welcoming service to passengers.

Finnair Plus concept and service manager Leena Muesa said:

“Apart from its new look, the service points of the Silver Wings lounge have been spread out and the division of space is now clear and logical: while waiting for a flight, passengers can enjoy an espresso in the cafe area, relax in the armchairs or by the bar tables follow aircraft taking off to Europe.”

Finnair’s Silver Wings lounge will be available to their Silver, Gold and Platinum customers and also oneworld’s Sapphire and Emerald passengers.