Finnair has decided to put some of its widebody aircraft to use and launch three direct long-haul flights from Stockholm.
Finnair will fly up to daily from Arlanda to Bangkok, up to three times a week to Phuket, and up to four days a week to Miami until April 22, 2022, using Airbus A350 aircraft.
You can access Finnair here.
Here’s the press release from Finnair:
Finnair opens non-stop flight routes from Arlanda, Stockholm in Sweden to Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand and Miami in the United States for the winter season 2021/2022. All three routes will be operated with an Airbus A350 aircraft offering a smooth and modern travel experience.
“We are excited to meet the travel needs of our Swedish customers with a non-stop service from Arlanda to Thailand and Miami, which are among the top winter holiday destinations for Swedes”, says Ole Orvér, Chief Commercial Officer, Finnair. “The new flights will strengthen our offering in the Swedish market.”
As of October 22, Finnair flies from Arlanda to Bangkok five times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. From November 28, the weekly frequencies will be increased to seven and flights are operated from Monday through Sunday until April 22, 2022.
Flights from Arlanda to Phuket will be operated on Sundays as of October 24. An additional frequency will be added Thursday as of November 4th and for Tuesdays as of November 30. Flights to Phuket will be operated until April 21, 2022.
Flights from Arlanda to Miami will start with two weekly frequencies, on Wednesdays and Saturdays as of October 23. From November 29, flights will be operated also on Monday and Friday until April 22, 2022.
Finnair flies to Bangkok, Phuket and Miami also from its home base Helsinki Airport.
Finnair flights from Arlanda to Thailand are now bookable through Finnair.com and to Miami also through travel agencies.
Conclusion
Finnair certainly hopes that the Phuket Sandbox doesn’t explode, and Bangkok also accepts international travelers without restrictions or quarantines later in the year. We cannot be sure that this would be the case, however. The US also isn’t open yet for travelers from Europe.
For years, the airline has relied on its strategy of connecting Asian cities and Europe through Helsinki, with a limited number of flights to North America beyond New York City. Unfortunately, the reliance on Asia has backfired, and it is challenging to see travel to that region recover before 2023.
Let’s hope that these flights are successful for the airline that definitely is not utilizing its long-haul fleet at the moment to any extent.
I don’t understand Finnish but always found the announcement in Finnish pleasant to hear
Because they are so short? 🙂 Some English sentence like “please could you take care of it?” often best translates to Finnish like “hoida se!”, roughly translated as “do it!” The language recognizes those polite add-on words, but the use of them is often seen dubious by native speakers.
I would say “voisitko hoitaa”, although “hoida se” would not be considered rude in Finnish.
The news are telling that these Stockholm based flights are because it is so problematic to arrange flights to THESE destinations from Finland (because of strict Finland Covid-19 restrictions). However, I don’t see this being the case – Finnair will be for example flying to Bangkok from their home base Helsinki also.
Instead, it seems true what is stated by John above – these flights are simply because there is no other use for the Finnair airplanes at the moment. For some reason this is not even mentioned in Finnish news.