Finnair cancels flights over New Year period to Moscow due to lack of passengers

Published: 10/3/1999

Finnair has cancelled all flights from Helsinki to Moscow between 31st December 1999 and 3rd January 2000. The airline has declined to comment on its cancellations beyond saying that it had too few passengers over the New Year period to justify the flights. Other sources quoted by news agency RIA however, are reported as saying that the airline had sold 2000 tickets for the period and had only seen a substantial fall in business class reservations. The cancellations of the flights will obvious heighten concern about Russia's preparation for the Millennium and the potential impact of Y2K on air traffic control and other systems. To date Finnair appear to be the first of the major airlines to suspend flying to Russia, more may follow however, given the expressions of concern from both the US and UK government's on the state of Russia's Y2K preparation.

Article ID: 922