[Following a subsequent online announcement from Finnair, this article has been updated to reflect the present situation. The article previously stated that the Nanjing to Helsinki flight would resume on 6 September.]
Many Europeans in Nanjing have grown fond of the Finnair flight to Helsinki. The relatively short flight time and convenient connections to all over Europe, from the cosiness of Helsinki Vantaa Airport, have made the airline a popular choice.
The resumed service makes its debut next Friday, 11 September, with flight AY105 departing Helsinki at 18.55, arriving in Nanjing at 08.55 on Saturday morning. The return leg, the once-weekly flight from Nanjing to Helsinki, as flight AY106, departs the Sunday after at 09:35, arriving in Helsinki at 14.20.
The flight from Helsinki to Nanjing takes just 9 hours, while the return is longer, at 9 hours, 45 minutes.
Finnair is also a hit on account of its relatively cheap tickets. At time of writing, an economy class ticket for Nanjing to Helsinki on 13 September, returning 18 September, was available for ¥7,819.
By way of contrast, an economy class ticket on Lufthansa, from Nanjing to Frankfurt on 13 October, returning 25 October, presently costs ¥10,020.
Finnair normally operates its Nanjing-Helsinki service using Airbus 330 equipment. An airline industry insider today told The Nanjinger that, at this point, it looks as if Finnair will be using the larger Airbus 350 for the route, presumably in order to facilitate social distancing on the aircraft by keeping the centre seats free in economy class.
If this is the case, it will be the first time that Finnair has flown an Airbus 350 to Nanjing.
The flight resumption means that Finnair will now have all but two of its services to China back in action. Prior to Nanjing, flights to and from Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing had been restored. The embattled airline will be hoping that the remaining two, serving Guangzhou and Xi’an, will also be restored soon.
It certainly can’t come quickly enough. Finnair is presently running only 10 percent of the services it offered this time last year. Noting the gathering pace of resumption, Finnair CEO, Topi Manner, stated that half of the airline’s services will be restored by end of September, a prediction that was quickly downgraded to 30 percent, reported the Helsinki Times on 27 August.
No matter, the Finnish flag carrier has a lot of cost to save. The airline announced last week that consultative negotiations are being initiated with 2,800 members of staff. Finnair believes this year’s temporary lay-offs will not be enough to cover losses and that up to 1,000 jobs will be lost. With a view to retaining as many of its flights as possible, no flight crew shall be affected by the cuts.
