Clocking in at 8,222 nautical miles, Finnair is slated to open its longest-ever flight next year, marking the Helsinki-based airline’s debut in Australia with a new route from its hub in Helsinki to Melbourne, Australia, via Bangkok.
Is this a clever move from Finnair, or is the airline scrabbling to find new profitable destinations after its long-haul route network was upended by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
Finnair’s first-ever flights to Australia
Late on Wednesday, Finnair dropped the news that it is set to launch flights to Australia for the first time in its more than 100-year history with a new route between Helsinki and Melbourne. The route will be operated by Finnair’s flagship Airbus A350-900 aircraft via Bangkok.
Tickets for the new route went on sale on Thursday, and Finnair is expected to operate its inaugural flight to Melbourne on October 25, 2026.
The 1x daily service will be timed to depart Helsinki just after midnight, arriving in Bangkok in the afternoon, and then continuing onto Melbourne after a short refueling stop for an early morning arrival the following day.
The flight from Helsinki to Bangkok will take just over 12 hours, while the flight from Bangkok to Melbourne should last a little less than nine hours.
Finnair already serves Bangkok with a 2x daily flight, and the new flight will be an additional service, rather than a continuation of one of the other two existing services.
Who Finnair thinks will take this flight
Finnair’s chief revenue officer, Christine Rovelli, commented on the new route, saying that she expects the flights will “appeal to travellers from Europe heading to Australia, as well as Australians exploring northern Europe and beyond.”
It just seems a little too obvious!
If you are committing your flagship long-haul aircraft to a new destination on the other side of the world, you would like to think that there will be plenty of demand, but has Finnair properly worked out who its customers on this route are going to be?
How Finnair positions itself in the market is likely to be crucial to its success, and presumably, the airline plans to offer a more affordable and budget-friendly alternative to existing airlines that connect Europe and Australia.
Is Finnair throwing darts at a map?
After more than 100 years of happily ignoring Australia, why is Finnair choosing now to launch flights to the continent?
This is likely a result of Finnair’s identity crisis in recent years. The airline had long cultivated a long-haul route network that was focused on connecting Europe and Southeast Asia.
By utilizing far northern routes that tracked across Russia, Finnair was able to offer the quickest flight times between Europe and Southeast, even factoring in layovers in Helsinki.
That strategy was, however, quickly upended in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. In response to Western sanctions, Russia banned carriers like Finnair from using its airspace, and the airline’s long-haul advantage was lost overnight.
Ever since, Finnair has been scrabbling to find new routes to deploy its long-haul aircraft on. The airline has looked west, towards the United States, as well as leasing out some of its shorter-range Airbus A330 aircraft to Qantas because they were otherwise surplus to requirements.
You have to wonder whether Finnair’s foray into the Australian market is yet another attempt at revamping its long-haul network.
What can passengers expect on board?
Finnair will be deploying its long-range Airbus A350-900 aircraft on the new route to Melbourne, which features the carrier’s revolutionary ‘no recline’ Business Class seat dubbed Airlounge.
Unveiled in 2022, the Airlounge seat doesn’t have a motorized recline system like traditional Business Class seats, but instead offers a large ‘flexible living space’ and special infills to create a fully flat sleeping surface.
Finnair operates two variants of the A350-900 – one in a more premium heavy configuration with 43 Airlounge seats, 24 Premium Economy seats, and 211 standard Economy seats.
The standard A350 configuration features just 30 Airlounge seats, 26 Premium Economy seats, and 265 Economy seats.
Bottom line
Finnair is going Down Under with its first-ever flights to Melbourne. Flights are slated to commence on October 26, 2026, with a 1x daily service connecting via Bangkok.
