On May 30, 2024, Finnair operated its first flight between Helsinki and Nagoya Chubu in approximately four years. Going forward, Finnair will operate the route twice a week as follows:
- AY79 / Helsinki – Nagoya Chubu / 12:15AM – 7:05PM / Thu, Sun
- AY80 / Nagoya Chubu – Helsinki / 10:50PM – 5:55AM+1 / Mon, Fri
Before being suspended due to the pandemic, the route was operated five times per week using Airbus A330-300 aircraft. This time, the route is operated by A350-900s equipped with Finnair’s new cabins including its original AirLounge business class seats. With that, on each flight, Finnair offers 278 seats including 43 in business, 24 in premium economy, and 211 in economy class.
Until the pandemic brought the airline industry to a halt, Nagoya Chubu was also served by Lufthansa. Currently, however, Finnair is the only airline to offer non-stop flights between Japan’s third largest metropolitan area after Tokyo and Osaka and Europe.
Nagoya is Finnair’s fourth destination in Japan after Tokyo Haneda (daily), Tokyo Narita (6x week), and Osaka Kansai (5x week). In the past, it also briefly served Fukuoka and Sapporo New Chitose. The ongoing geopolitical situation in Ukraine and the resulting inability to overfly Russia has made Finnair’s post-pandemic growth in Japan challenging.
Whereas Helsinki’s location allowed Finnair to offer, at under 10 hours, the shortest flights between Europe and Japan in the past, currently, the flights routinely take over 13 hours. This not only leads to increased variable costs like fuel but also increases the number of aircraft required to operate any given route between the two countries.
