Finnair continues to grow its Asian traffic, and has today announced it will add capacity and frequencies to the Tokyo and Hong Kong routes with the A350 for the summer 2017 season.

Finnair will increase its current flight schedule between Helsinki and Tokyo with four additional weekly flights to Narita airport. Finnair currently operates daily to Narita with the A330. The additional flights, which will be flown with the new Airbus A350 aircraft, will be operated between June 5 and October 27. With these additions, Finnair and its partner Japan Airlines will offer 18 weekly connections from Helsinki to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. The additional Tokyo frequencies will be operated as a joint business operation with Japan Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. Finnair also flies non-stop to Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka during the summer 2017 season, with a total of 35 weekly flights to Japan.

Finnair will also add A350 frequencies to its Hong Kong route with three additional weekly flights between June 6 and October 28. Currently, Finnair flies to Hong Kong daily departing Helsinki and Hong Kong around midnight. With the new frequencies, Finnair will operate 10 weekly flights and offer customers the added option of an afternoon flight from Helsinki and a morning flight from Hong Kong. Finnair’s flights to Hong Kong are fully operated with the A350.

In addition to Hong Kong, Finnair will also maintain and continue its seasonal route to the nearby Chinese city of Guangzhou, with four weekly frequencies operated with the A330 aircraft. Finnair’s route to Guangzhou opened in 2016 and was Finnair’s fifth destination in mainland China.

“With increased frequencies for Tokyo and Hong Kong on the A350, we are now tapping into the growth of Asia-Europe traffic and increasing our presence in cities that have been popular with our customers in recent years,” says Juha Järvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair. “It’s been a year since we received our very first Airbus A350, and with seven aircraft operating in our network, we look forward to having even more customers flying on this great aircraft.”

Next year, Finnair is expected to receive four A350 deliveries. By the end of 2023, Finnair will have one of the most modern long-haul fleets in the industry with 19 A350 aircraft in its fleet.