Finnair's new destinations Hong Kong and Stockholm Skavsta

Finnair's Winter Timetable comes into effect on October 28. Changes have been made to Finnair's current routes and two entirely new destinations, Hong Kong and Stockholm Skavasta, are planned. The start of the winter season also marks the end of tax-free sales on board scheduled flights to European destinations outside the European Union. On long haul and Leisure flights tax-free sales will continue as usual.

As of October 28, Finnair will begin five weekly flights to Bangkok, four of which continue to Singapore. The destination of the fifth Monday flight is Bangkok and will be operated until mid-February. A fourth Sunday flight to Beijing added on February 17. In addition, the Bangkok flight route has been changed so that the crisis areas in Central Asia are avoided.

Finnair begins operating three weekly scheduled flights to Hong Kong via Bangkok on February 16. As of this date, flights to Bangkok will be operated daily.

The schedules have been designed to enhance good connections with Finnair's oneworld partners Qantas through Bangkok and Singapore and with Cathay Pacific through Hong Kong. The departure and arrival times at Helsinki are designed for good connections from Scandinavia, the Baltics and Western Europe to and from South East Asia, Hong Kong and Australia.

As of October 28, flights to New York will be operated five times a week, but Finnair is planning to return to daily flights when the summer timetable comes into effect on March 31.

New European destination in neighbouring Sweden An entirely new route is also being added to European scheduled traffic. The new six weekly flights between Helsinki Stockholm Skavsta will be operated together with Finnair's Swedish code-share partner Golden Air on its 50 seat Saab 2000 aircraft. This additional route brings the total number of daily flights between Helsinki and Stockholm to sixteen. The new route also acts as a feeder service for Finnair's South East Asian routes.

Several changes to existing routes have been made in European scheduled traffic. Morning flights to Paris now depart earlier at 7.35am and Milan flights will become nonstop and fly to Malpensa airport instead of Linate.

One new flight has been added to the London Heathrow route as a result of the cancellation of the London Gatwick route. A single flight has been cancelled on the Helsinki Amsterdam, Budapest and Paris routes and three on the Helsinki-Vienna route. In addition, all fourteen weekly flights to Budapest are now operated together with the Hungarian airline Malev. A few flights have also been cancelled on Finnair's domestic routes. Two flights have been cancelled on the Helsinki-Oulu route and some flights to Kittilä, Ivalo and Kuusamo have been merged. Cancellations are also expected on domestic routes during the coming holiday season.