Finnair adds capacity, flights to China

Finnair, the largest airline in Finland, has added flight capacity and frequencies to China, to further accelerate its long-haul growth in the Europe-Asia sector.

The company announced on Oct 10 that it will add frequencies to the route between Helsinki and Hong Kong from current daily flights to 10 weekly flights, starting from June 6 to Oct 28 in 2017 with Airbus A350 aircraft.

The new schedule will offer passengers added options of an afternoon flight from Helsinki and a morning flight from Hong Kong to current daily flights departing from Hong Kong and Helsinki around midnight.

The carrier will continue its seasonal route to Guangzhou next year, with four weekly frequencies operated by A330 aircraft. The seasonal route to Guangzhou opened in 2016 and was Finnair's sixth destination in China.

Finnair has been invigorating its long-haul growth, based on its niche in Europe-Asia network. According to the airline, a target to double its 2010 Asia ASKs by 2020 has been brought forward to 2018, and this can be achieved with minimal additional investment.

In 2017, the carrier is expected to receive four Airbus A350 deliveries and will add the latest Airbus aircraft to their Tokyo route next year.