newstodate.aero

Feb 28, 2022 (newstodate): The potential Russian airspace closure would notably impact air traffic between Europe and Asia, which plays an important role in Finnair’s network.
   The negative financial impacts on Finnair will be significant, especially if the situation prolongs. Due to this, the company withdraws its guidance related to Q1 2022 and the operational environment in H2 2022, provided in connection with the Q4 2021 result.
   -The crisis in Ukraine touches all Europeans, and we understand the EU’s decision to close its airspace. We are implementing our contingency plan as the situation has a considerable impact on Finnair. Bypassing the Russian airspace lengthens flight times to Asia considerably and, thus, the operation of most of our passenger and cargo flights to Asia is not economically sustainable or competitive, Topi Manner, Finnair CEO, says in a relase today.
   As an immediate reaction, Finnair is canceling its passenger and/or cargo flights to Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai and Guangzhou in Asia and to Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia between February 28 and March 6, 2022.  
   Finnair's flights to Hong Kong were cancelled until the end of March already from February 22, 2022.
   Finnair continues to operate passenger and/or cargo flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore and Delhi but reroutes the flights to avoid Russian airspace which will lengthen flight times by approximately one hour.  
   Finnair flies to Bangkok and Phuket also from Stockholm Arlanda in addition to Helsinki.
   -A decision on Russian airspace usage after March 6 will be made later as the possible regulatory changes clarify, the company says.