The flight from Helsinki to Tokyo now takes 4 hours longer
We have written this several times since the war in Ukraine shocked the world, including aviation: in addition to the companies [...]
Finnair
Oneworld
We have written this several times since the war in Ukraine shocked the world, including aviation: in addition to Russian airlines and Japanese carriers ANA and JAL, the armed conflict is also putting Finnair in trouble.
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The geographical location of Helsinki, the Scandinavian carrier's main hub, Was the best in Europe for routes to the East. And right now it has become the worst.
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With the closure of Russian airspace, Finnair aircraft have had to chart new routes, greatly lengthening all flights to the East. The connection to Bangkok, for example, takes almost 60 minutes longer. But most affected are flights to Japan, China and Korea.
The carrier's immediate decision, which saw the value of its own shares plummet at the beginning of the week, was to suspend all flights. Now, with a cool head, Finnair has announced the resumption of some routes, particularly the one to Japan.
The new route will take off on March 9, the route will operate four times a week from Helsinki to Tokyo Narita. The flight is expected to take about 13 hours, which is almost four hours longer than before. The new route will fly south or north of Russia, depending on the wind, to avoid Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian airspace.
Japanese carriers also no longer fly to Europe, decisions are currently being made on a day-to-day basis, but the two major carriers in the Rising Sun are re-routing their passengers to other routes and with the help of other carriers.
Comparing the standard routing for JL43 between Tokyo and London to today's routing. pic.twitter.com/x28WGyOf3o
- Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 4, 2022