newstodate.aero

Apr 20, 2023 (newstodate): This coming weekend, Finnair will celebrate its 40th anniversary of flights to Japan.
   The carrier's first non-stop flight to Tokyo Narita Airport departed from Helsinki Airport on April 22, 1983, operated with MD-11 aircraft fitted with extra fuel tanks, allowing the carrier to operate over the North Pole.
   While the Polar flights were later replaced with more direct flights through Russian airspace on the Sibir lanes, the carrier is ironically enough again back on trans-polar flights since March 9, 2023, on the route from Helsinki to Osaka that is now barred from Russian overflights due to the war on Ukraine.
   Finnair's non-stop flights to Japan were the first in the European market at the time, and Finnair also rounded another significant corner in Europe-Japan air travel by adding its 5th Japanese destination, Fukuoka, in spring 2016.
   Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, Finnair's program for flights to Japan comprised Tokyo Narita, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo, but in summer 2022 Finnair was forced to suspend all services to Japan due to the Covid-19.    
   In 2023, Finnair returned services on its route from Helsinki to Osaka, Japan, on March 26, offering three weekly rotations with  Airbus A350 aircraft.
   In the 2023 summer season, Finnair will also operate flights to Tokyo's Narita Airport - served since April 22, 1983 - four times a week, in addition to its daily flights since October 30, 2022, to Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
   Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, Finnair's program for flights to Japan comprised Tokyo Narita, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo.
   In 2019, 18 percent of Finnair's total passenger volume was generated on the Asian lanes, while Asian cargo accounted for 72 percent of the total volumes carried.