Helsinki: Nordic airline Finnair is in talks with leading airlines in India for a partnership in order to strengthen its position in the local market there.

"We are in partnership talks with the leading airlines of India. We need this in the long run. This would simply make our connections locally better and it would also help in timetable coordination with the connecting flights," Jukka Hienonen, president and CEO, Finnair, told a visiting IANS correspondent in an interview.

"People would not fly to only where we fly. They would like to fly to other destinations as well, within India. So we would need a local partner to cooperate," he added refusing to divulge the names.

The Finnish national carrier, which started operations in India in the late 2006, is soon going to fly 13 times a week by operating daily from New Delhi and six times a week from Mumbai from June.

The airline is also a member of the 'Oneworld Alliance', the third largest airline alliance in the world having members like British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, LAN, Japan Airlines, Royal Jordanian, MALEV and Mexicana (from 2009).

"I have also been urging the board of Oneworld that we should have an Indian partner as well. That is also in the process at the moment. So ideally, we may partner the same airline," Hienonen said.