Taru Keronen, Msc. (Econ.) has been appointed Managing Director of Area Travel Agency Ltd from 1 October 2007. The current Managing Director Juhani Suomela, 61, will transfer to the position of senior adviser until the end of 2007 when he will retire. Taru Keronen is a 41-year-old experienced travel professional. Since 2004 she has worked as Managing Director of Eckerö Line and before that she worked in the S Group in various hotel management related positions. Keronen's core competences include company strategic planning, customer analyses and customer management systems, travel production and sales management as well as delivery chain management. “I am interested in the transformation of the travel agencies' role to an expert travel management partner for companies. Area has seen that this offers many development opportunities. I want to be involved in this development. In addition Area's resources, strong professional competence and focus on new, electronic service products on both leisure and business travel made this position attractive for me,” Keronen said. Area is a full service travel agency and the America Express travel agency chain representative in Finland. Area is one of Finland's leading business travel agencies and a forerunner in electronic leisure travel services. Finnair Plc Communications 18.6.2007 Additional information: Taru Keronen tel. +358 50 66 209 Juhani Suomela, Managing Director, Area, tel. +358 10 818 9010