To strengthen its global cargo offering, the largest air cargo carrier in the Nordic & Baltic region - Finnair Cargo is pleased to announce that from March 2013 Brussels Airport will serve as its new freighter hub in Continental Europe to complement the service via Finnair's home hub at Helsinki Airport. Brussels is one of Europe's key gateways for cargo, offering great connections to numerous locations in Europe with fast road feeder services covering the European air cargo market within easy reach in less than 8 hours from Brussels. Brussels Airport is located in the centre of European pharmaceutical industry, which offers great expansion opportunities for Finnair Cargo. Finnair Cargo will initiate the Brussels freighter hub with weekly MD-11 freighter services, connecting Brussels with New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare and Finnair's Helsinki hub with non-stop freighter flights. During summer 2013 Finnair Cargo offers extensive network via Helsinki hub to 14 Asian destinations, including 3 destinations in Japan, 5 in China, and dedicated freighter flights to Hong Kong and Mumbai. "Finnair Cargo's target is to become one of TOP 5 cargo carriers between Europe and Northeast Asia, and the opening of Brussels cargo hub to strengthen our cargo service via Helsinki is an important step in this vision", said Juha Jarvinen, Managing Director of Finnair Cargo. Finnair Cargo operates to 14 Asian destinations in summer 2013: Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo Narita, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Xi'an, Hanoi, Delhi, Bangkok and Singapore with Airbus A330/340 aircraft, and dedicated MD-11 F flights to Hong Kong and Mumbai. New freighter destinations: Brussels and Chicago To optimize aircraft usage and to provide more extensive air cargo service and seamless connections to customers Finnair Cargo launches new freighter rotation schedule from March 2013. Exact start date and detailed flight schedules will be released later but the initial rotation plan (subject to changes) is as follows. In March 2013 Finnair Cargo will initiate weekly MD-11 F flights via its new Brussels hub, connecting Brussels with Finnair's Helsinki hub as well as New York JFK and new destination Chicago O"Hare. Via Helsinki Finnair Cargo offers an extensive network to Finnair's 14 Asian destinations, including Japan, South Korea, China and Southeast Asia, with dedicated freighter flights to Hong Kong and Mumbai.(mar)