Finnair has announced plans to resume flights between Helsinki and Guangzhou next month.
The flag carrier last operated the route over two years ago prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A weekly service will launch on September 6, departing Helsinki on Tuesdays at 1445 and arriving into Guangzhou at 0815 the following day, with the return leg leaving the Chinese city on Thursdays at 0950, landing back into the Finnish capital at 1810.
The route will be operated by Finnair’s A350 aircraft, with the carrier stating that “The new service will offer transfer customers a smooth transition between Europe and Asia, with the required Chinese Covid-19 testing available at Helsinki Airport”.
Finnair’s Far East network has been hit both by Covid-19 travel restrictions and the war in Ukraine, which has forced it to take a longer routing in recent months in order to avoid Russian airspace.
The airline resumed flights to Hong Kong (which is situated around 130km southeast of Guangzhou) last month, and while it did not comment specifically at the time on the implications of rerouting for Hong Kong route, Finnair did state that “flight times have been extended by 10-40 per cent on Finnair’s Asian routes”.
Commenting on the news Ole Orver, Finnair’s chief commercial officer, said that the carrier was “excited to return to Guangzhou and look forward to gradually increasing our offering for the Chinese market.”
Guangzhou Baiyun International airport was the world’s busiest airport in 2020, as a result of Covid-19 dramatically curbing international flying. The airport fell to number eight in the ranking in 2021, with US airports dominating the list.