Eurowings Discover Leasing Finnair Planes This Summer

Finnair will not be operating flights in Las Vegas and Tampa this summer.

Finnair taking over three Eurowings Discover routes

An interesting wet lease agreement is in the works for this summer, according to a new filing with the United States Department of Transportation. Finnair is requesting permission to operate flights on behalf of Eurowings Discover on a wet lease basis. Finnair would operate three Eurowings Discover routes.

• Frankfurt (FRA) to Las Vegas (LAS)
• Frankfurt (FRA) to Tampa (TPA)
• Munich (MUC) to Las Vegas (LAS)

A wet lease agreement would allow the plane to be from Finnair and the crew as well. This is a standard request, and I can't imagine it would be rejected.

Eurowings Discover is a new long haul leisure airline that is part of the Lufthansa group. The airline currently operates a fleet of roughly a dozen A330s, with several more to be delivered in the coming years. Ahead of a busy summer travel season, the airline is trying to increase capacity.

Why would Finnair lease planes to Eurowings Discover?

You wouldn't think that Finnair and Eurowings would work together. Finnair is part of oneworld and has a joint venture with American and British Airways.

In this case, it isn't one airline helping the other out, but rather a mutually beneficial arrangement.

• Finnair currently has a surplus of aircraft; the airline used to primarily operate long haul flights to Asia, but between China and Japan still largely being closed, plus Russian airspace being closed, Finnair is in a rough spot
• Eurowings Discover wants to grow at a fast pace, but can’t get planes fast enough to keep up with demand, so the airline is looking elsewhere for planes in the short term

Finnair has gotten creative during the Pandemic, by expanding its destinations in the United States, including adding Dallas and Seattle flights, as well as launching long haul flights out of Sweden. The airline still has a surplus of aircraft.

There shouldn't be huge implications for the passenger experience. Finnair's new business class won't be on these routes, and Eurowings Discover have similar hard products.

Bottom line

Eurowings plans to lease Finnair A330s for three routes this summer. Even though the airlines have nothing in common, this is being done because it is mutually beneficial. Finnair has a surplus of aircraft due to China and Japan being closed. Eurowings Discover can't get planes fast enough so it's trying to grow its presence this summer.

It will be funny to see a Finnair plane at the airport this summer, but that is not something I expected.

What do you think of Eurowings?