Finnair today released more information on how the airline will handle the closure of Russian airspace which is significantly affecting its flights to Asia.
Finnair will fly four times a week to Tokyo (Narita), three times a week to Seoul and once a week to Shanghai. Flights to Hong Kong and Osaka are currently not operated, as they cannot be served via the southern or northern route.
You can access Finnair’s page for travel information here, hereand here.
The airline previously announced that it was continuing flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Delhi and Singapore from Helsinki.
Flights from Tokyo and Seoul are weight restricted due to longer than usual flight times + cargo demand, and some passengers may need to be ‘kicked off’.
Finland only offers customers based in Russia a refund option:
Due to the instability of the Russian Ruble, it is currently not possible to purchase or change flights from Russia through Finnair channels or travel agencies in Russia. Ticket refund options remain.
Finnair also changed its flight schedules to Bangkok and ended the second daily flight on certain days (this could have been seasonal).
Finnair will not operate the AY141 which is scheduled to depart at 5:20 p.m. in the afternoon. It has been replaced by AY143 which leaves Helsinki at 00:45.
The AY143 was only loaded until March 27. AY141 has been loaded for all subsequent dates, but all availability has been cancelled. You cannot currently book direct flights to Bangkok on the Finnair website. I don’t know if that’s an indication of things to come.
Flight times are two to four hours longer than usual, and Finnair suggests passengers bring snacks with them.
Finnair asks passengers to bring snacks for long-haul flights
Conclusion
I have to fly on Finnair from Ivalo to Bangkok on April 19andand Finnair has not changed the booking yet, as AY143 has not been loaded for more than 20 days.
The inability to use Russian airspace significantly affects Finnair and other European and North Asian airlines which have used overflight rights to drastically reduce the time between these destinations. Airlines have returned to the polar route heading west instead of east on many of these flights.
Considering all the extra costs, I can only imagine how less profitable these flights are for the airlines.
Comments are closed.