Finnair’s Daily Services From Nordic Capitals To Doha Partnership With Qatar Airways

Finnair and Qatar Airways have formed a long-term strategic partnership to see Finland’s flag carrier, majority owned by the state, fly daily from three Nordic capitols to Doha.

The daily flights from Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm are operated using A330s with the updated business class product. The cockpit crew from these flights come from Finnair, while the cabin crew is outsourced.

You can access Finnair here.

Flight Schedules:

Copenhagen – Doha

CPH-DOH AY1985 15:15-23:30
DOH-CPH AY1986 08:15-13:10

Helsinki – Doha

HEL-DOH AY1981 16:00-23:45
DOH-HEL AY1982 08:00-14:15

Stockholm – Doha

ARN-DOH AY1983 15:10-23:50
DOH-ARN AY1984 08:10-13:25

The planes spend overnight in Doha before returning to Nordic capitals the following morning.

Announcement from Finnair:

Finnair to launch daily services from Nordic capitals to Doha in strategic partnership with Qatar Airways

Finnair and oneworld partner Qatar Airways have concluded an agreement to establish a long-term strategic cooperation between Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen and Doha. Finnair and Qatar Airways are exploring opening services also between another European destination and Doha.

These services will be supported by a comprehensive codeshare agreement with shared passenger and cargo capacity between both airlines.

Customers from the three Nordic cities will benefit from seamless connections via Doha to Qatar Airways’ extensive network of around 100 destinations across Australasia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The collaboration will also open new destinations and connection opportunities across Finnair’s Nordic network for Qatar Airways’ customers.

The services are planned to start between November and December 2022. They will be operated with Finnair’s Airbus A330 aircraft featuring Finnair’s new long-haul cabins, including industry-leading Air Lounge business class seats, a brand-new premium economy travel class and refreshed economy class.

The flights to Doha are to be sold and marketed by both Finnair and Qatar Airways as per the schedule below:

• 7 weekly flights to and from Helsinki
• 7 weekly flights to and from Stockholm
• 7 weekly flights to and from Copenhagen

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “As a fellow oneworld member, we enjoy a close relationship with Finnair and these new services to Hamad International Airport are an example of Qatar Airways working with partners for the benefit of our joint customers. This strategic partnership demonstrates our commitment to the Nordic markets and strengthens our position as the leading Middle East carrier in this important region. This partnership will be the foundation for the future expansion here.”

Mr. Al Baker added: “Soon, Doha will be the oneworld hub bringing more airline partners together than ever before. With this codeshare agreement, travellers from the Nordics will continue to have excellent connectivity to Doha with Finnair and onwards with Qatar Airways to attractive leisure and key business destinations across Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Middle East.”

“We are delighted to expand our collaboration with our oneworld partner Qatar Airways, offering new connections between Doha and the three Nordic capitals”, says Finnair CEO Topi Manner. “The role of Doha as an international hub is growing, and Qatar Airways has extensive connections from Doha onwards to for example Australasia, the Middle East and Africa.”

Conclusion

It is interesting to see if Qatar Airways will reduce its frequencies or drop some of these cities altogether that will be served by Finnair to Doha. The press release also mentions that Finnair and Qatar Airways are exploring other destinations that Finnair could serve from Europe to Doha.

Finnair has had an enormous headache with its previous Asian strategy that was its cornerstone, which fell apart when Russia started the war with Ukraine and Russian overfly rights were canceled. As a result, the fastest route between Europe and North Asia (Japan) became one of the longest.

This has resulted in excess airframes it has tried to find other use for.

The airline has operated flights from Stockholm to Thailand and North America. It has a wet-lease agreement with Lufthansa to operate some Eurowings flights from Germany to the United States, and now this new deal with Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways already owns part of IAG (parent of British Airways, Iberia & Aer Lingus), LATAM, and Cathay Pacific. So would it be surprising if they took a state in Finnair too? They certainly wouldn’t mind some extra capital.