Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa) says it is studying all available narrowbody options as it prepares to ramp up its regional European capacity during next year's summer season. As an interim measure, it will wet-lease a pair of A321-200s from an unspecified operator for a period of one-year with the first aircraft due to arrive in May 2016.

The airline says the need for increased narrowbody capacity was brought on by its recently unveiled longhaul expansion plans which require adequate feeder traffic to ensure profitability.

"We are adding some capacity to our feeder traffic by upgauging our aircraft size in order to enable our growth," Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo said. "At the same time, some of our traffic is still served most economically by smaller aircraft. Norra (Nordic Regional Airlines) continues to play a key role as the operator of regional traffic, and it continues to carry a considerable share of Finnair's European traffic."

With the arrival of the new aircraft, Finnair says it will downsize its Embraer fleet (two E170s and twelve E190s) while retiring one of its twelve ATR72-500s. All twenty-six aircraft are currently in service with NoRRA Nordic Regional Airlines (N7, Helsinki Vantaa).

Finnair's narrowbody fleet is currently dominated by Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) with nine A319-100s, ten A320-200s, and eleven A321-200s.