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The long and short of it

Article published
14.9.2017 at 06:00
Archived
An empty cabin inside an airplane.
Travel People & Aviation
What type of aircraft is used to fly to destinations within Europe? How about on intercontinental flights? Here are the differences between long-haul and short-haul planes

Finnair considers destinations within Europe and the Middle East as short-haul. Flights that go to and/or from Asia, Australia and North America are defined as long-haul. To carry out these flights, the Finnish flag carrier relies on its fleet of over 60 aircraft, one of the most modern in Europe.

Finnair is the first European airline to fly the Airbus A350, and the maiden A350 airliner arrived at Helsinki Airport in October 2015. The company operates A350s mainly on routes between Europe and Asia. Finnair is also the first European commercial carrier to introduce the new Airbus A350 XWB (eXtra Wide Body) airliner, which made its debut during the Kaivopuisto Air Show in June this year.

For flights within Europe, the Embraer E190 is one of the types of planes that Finnair uses. The E190 is part of the E-Jet series of narrow-body medium-range twin-engine jet airliners, and offers passengers one of the most spacious interiors among single-aisle aircraft. Norra –the commercial name of Nordic Regional Airlines – is Finnair's regional subsidiary and operates 12 E190s.

So just how different is the A350 to the E190? Here’s how the two aircraft types stack up against each other.

  AIRBUS A350-900 EMBRAER E190
Seating capacity 297 100
Length, m 66.9 36.2
Wingspan, m 64.8 28.7
Cruising speed, km/h 900 850
Maximum cruising altitude, m 13,100 12,300
Number of aircraft 10 12

Source: https://www.finnair.com/fi/gb/flights/fleet

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