Finland’s flag carrier has announced that it will offer thrice weekly flights to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport from November this year in an effort to grow its presence in China.
Starting November 3, Finnair will operate flights to Beijing Daxing on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. The return flights from Daxing to Helsinki will be on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The flights will be operated with the airline’s Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
According to Finnair’s website, the airline has eight A330-300s, which it operates in two different two-class seating configurations: one with 32 business class seats and another with 45 business class seats. A Finnair spokesperson confirmed that both configurations will be used on the Daxing service.
The flight schedule for the new Daxing service is as follows (according to the Finnair spokesperson):
Winter 2019
| Flight No. | From | To | Departs | Arrives | Day |
| AY081 | Helsinki (HEL) | Beijing Daxing (PKX) | 1705 | 0710 (+1) | Monday, Wednesday, Sunday |
| AY082 | Beijing Daxing (PKX) | Helsinki (HEL) | 1110 | 1405 | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday |
Summer 2020
| Flight No. | From | To | Departs | Arrives | Day |
| AY081 | Helsinki (HEL) | Beijing Daxing (PKX) | 0045 | 1335 | Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday |
| AY082 | Beijing Daxing (PKX) | Helsinki (HEL) | 0155 | 0535 | Wednesday, Friday, Sunday |
The airline now offers daily flights to the Chinese capital’s existing Beijing Capital Airport and the upcoming frequencies to Daxing are in addition to this current service. Finnair serves a total of seven destinations in Greater China.
Beijing Daxing International Airport, which is under construction, is scheduled to open before September 30. The airport will be an international hub in China and one of the world’s largest airports.
Earlier this year, Finnair announced a codeshare collaboration with Shanghai-based Juneyo Airlines which includes a non-stop service between Shanghai and Helsinki.
The carrier also formed a codeshare agreement with China Southern Airlines earlier this year, with four new destinations including Changsha, Hangzhou, Wenzhou and Sanya.
