Before Covid, the China was one of the flagship destinations for which Finnair had great ambitions. The company served seven destinations there - including Hong Kong. It had also signed a cooperation agreement with China Southern and Juneyao Air, enabling it to serve dozens of cities within the country. At the time, China was one of the airline's most important markets.
This now seems to be a thing of the distant past. Finnair now operates just one flight a week to Shanghai, its only destination in China. The announcement of the launch of a weekly flight between Helsinki and Canton (Guangzhou) is a remarkable step forward.
" We are delighted to be returning to Guangzhou and look forward to gradually expanding our offering for the Chinese market." said Ole Orvér, Finnair's Commercial Director.
The new flight will take off on 6 September.. It will be run by a Airbus A350with departures from Helsinki on Tuesdays and Guangzhou on Thursdays. The flights are already on sale through all Finnair booking channels and travel agencies. Three classes of service will be available (Business, Premium Eco and Economy).
Improvement in South-East Asia
The flight from Guangzhou offers connections to a number of European destinations of Finnair. During transit, passengers must undergo a Covid test, as required by the Chinese authorities.. These tests are available at Helsinki airport for the flight to Guangzhou. Further instructions are available on finnair.com.
In its traffic forecasts, Finnair is not reporting any significant improvement in passenger numbers on its North-East Asian routes (Korea, Japan and China). This is due in particular to the continuing restrictions on travellers wishing to visit Japan or China. On the other hand, the company believes that Demand in the third quarter of 2022 should be close to what it was before Covid in South-East Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
