Finnair to Resume Long Haul Flights in July with Strong Focus on Asia

Finnair has unveiled plans to gradually add frequencies and routes back into its network, from 1 July 2020.

The airline is expected to review its schedule on a monthly basis and will update it as travel restrictions are removed and demand starts to recover.

”We expect aviation to recover gradually, starting in July,” said Finnair Chief Commercial Officer Ole Orvér. ”Our intention is to operate approximately 30% of our normal amount of flights in July, and we will also start long-haul flights to our key Asian destinations. We will then add routes and frequencies month by month as demand recovers. Our recent customer survey shows that customers are already planning both business and leisure trips ... We want to meet this demand with our network offering.”

Finnair’s long-haul operations will commence in phases from July, with a strong focus on Asia.

The airline plans to fly to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai (subject to government approval); to Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo Narita in Japan; and to Singapore, Seoul and Bangkok.

Long-haul operations are supported by cargo demand. In August, Finnair will start flights to Delhi and to New York, and in November to Tokyo Haneda airport. Finnair also has flights to Miami, Krabi and Phuket during the winter holiday season.

Key Cities in Europe

On European routes, Finnair will first focus on key cities, and plans to fly to Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Geneva, Hamburg, London, Malaga, Manchester, Moscow, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Vilnius, Vienna and Zürich in July.

In August, Finnair plans to launch flights to Barcelona, Milan, Madrid, Rome and Warsaw.

During the summer holiday season Finnair will also operate individual flights to some of the holiday destinations in Southern Europe.

Domestic

Finnair plans to operate six domestic routes in Finland in July, flying to Kuopio, Mariehamn, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Turku and Vaasa.

In August, Finnair plans to fly to Ivalo and Kittilä in the Finnish Lapland, and in September to Kuusamo and Tampere.

Finnair will not operate to Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Kemi or Kokkola during summer 2020 and a decision for these five destinations for winter 2020/2021 has not yet been made.

Cancellations

As Finnair publishes its flying schedule from July 2020 to end of March 2021, it is also cancelling flights that will not be operating. Finnair says it will handle flight cancellations in phases, and customers will be contacted by the end of June about any cancelled flights they were booked onto.

Customers can seek a refund for cancelled flights or can change their travel dates until 31 May 2021 through Finnair’s website or customer service.

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