Finnair will begin daily Airbus A350 flights between Hong Kong and Helsinki this week, with Singapore slated to see the next-gen jetliner later this year.
Asia is a growing market for Finnair, and both of those business hubs double as gateways for Australians booked on the Oneworld airline and Qantas partner.
"Australia is by far Finnair’s largest ‘offline’ market," says Geoff Stone, Finnair country manager for Australia and New Zealand. "In fact it generates more traffic and revenue than some countries to which Finnair flies directly."
This underscores a continued preference by Australian business travellers to transit via Singapore or Hong Kong, with some travellers booking a route which takes in both cities.
"We have some customers who like to go up via Singapore and come back via Hong Kong, or vice versa" Stone recounts. "There are many companies that have offices in both cities, so this allows customers to visit those in each direction."
Hong Kong "is becoming increasingly popular" as Finnair's Aussie launching pad, Stone adds, driven by the higher number of flights between Australia and Hong Kong compared to Singapore.
"We have both Qantas and Cathay Pacific connecting through Hong Kong," Stone says, with Cathay Pacific offering multiple daily flights from most major Australian cities, "whereas to Singapore we only have Qantas, so there is more availability."
Also read: Cathay Pacific eyes Sydney, Melbourne for more Boeing 777s
Finnair will expand its Hong Kong footprint to double daily flights across northern summer, with the A350 joined by an Airbus A330, while Singapore will switch from an Airbus A340 to the modern A350 "in the third quarter."
"The two oldest A340s have also exited out fleet, so we have fully flat business class seating in all of our aircraft now," Stone says.
AusBT review: Finnair Airbus A350 business class
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Dec 2011
Total posts 95
If Finnair are reading this, PLEASE PLEASE come to Melbourne. Because if as you say that the numbers are good, then there should be enough bums on seas to make it worth while.
23 May 2012
Total posts 52
You can use CX or QF both on AY codeshares as well as on their own flight numbers from MEL to HKG and/or SIN to connect to Europe from those stopover points (same as from SYD or BNE).
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Mar 2013
Total posts 132
I think the AY a350 to SIN, then EK a380 to MEL is my pick (although imagine it's only available as a QF ticket)
15 Mar 2016
Total posts 5
Any news on when they will be flying the A350 to New York?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
24 Apr 2013
Total posts 57
Fantastic news. Going to HEL via HKG on CX/AY next month in J, so very much looking forward to the A350 experience.
19 Mar 2016
Total posts 7
I had an utterly disastrous experience in J on the A350, BKK-HEL in December, and AY customer service has been pretty much MIA despite numerous complaints. While this is great in theory, and the HEL connection is great if you're continuing on in Europe, they need a LOT of work on their product and service to lure me back.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Mar 2016
Total posts 52
They were supposed to be flying the A350 from Helsinki to Singapore by the 28th July as I was booked on it but they have changed it to an A340 on that date but luckily they allowed me to change to the A350 on the Helsinki to Hong Kong flight the smae day and thenback to Brisbane.
Looking forward to their new business class product which looks great.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Mar 2013
Total posts 132
My flight to SIN in September has recently been changed back to an A340 as well (A350 when booked in November). David, has Finnair advised whether deliveries have been delayed, or the new aircraft have been re-allocated to other parts of the network?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2555
Nope.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1518
Anyone know anything about BKK?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
01 Aug 2014
Total posts 6
Don't discount AY's BKK connections also. The A350 is already serving BKK I believe - I'm utilising that connection in June with QF to BKK, then AY to HEL. Looking forward to trying the A350 then.
22 Mar 2016
Total posts 1
"...so we have fully flat business class seating in all of our aircraft now"
Except OH-LQA, which of course happens to be the one I now look to have for HEL-SIN on 8 May. It was a new configuration A330 when I booked, but not now. Not to worry however, the seat map, Finnair's website and every other resource must be wrong as they only have fully flat seating in all their aircraft now.
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