Northern Europe has just got a whole lot closer, with the launch of a direct air connection between Nanjing and Helsinki. The flight comes courtesy of Finnair, the Scandinavian country’s flag carrier.
With its debut flight taking off from Helsinki on 13 May, and arriving in Nanjing the following morning, the new service shall be available three times a week in the summer and twice a week during the winter. It is the third direct flight to Europe, joining Lufthansa’s flight to Frankfurt and Neos Airlines’ service to Milan, but at a little over 9 hours, it is by far the fastest way to the continent.
The 7,184-kilometre link is the sixth flight to China for Finnair, joining services to Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai Pudong and Xi’an.
Flying an interesting Great Circle route, after leaving Chinese airspace, the Finnair plane flies high over Lake Baikal, the continental rift lake in Southern Siberia, that is, at 31,000 square kilometres, the seventh largest lake in the world. Then it is onward to northern Russia, almost as as far as the Arctic Ocean, before turning southwest toward Helsinki.
The new flight adds yet more exotica to the internatonal destinations served by direct flights from Nanjing. As reported by The Nanjinger in February, more people than ever are taking advantage of the flights to spice up the otherwise traditional Chinese New Year.
Flight AY106 presently departs Nanjing at 09:35 on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, arriving in Helsinki at 14:10, while the return leg departs at 17:55 on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving Nanjing Lukou International Airport at 07:55 the following day. Finnair is operating the route using Airbus A333 equipment.
