Summary
- Finnair resumes flights to Nagoya for the first time post-pandemic with a twice-weekly service.
- Flight timings will allow for seamless connections to UK and Irish network.
- Finnair’s modern Airbus A350 fleet serves four Japanese destinations, offering over 14,000 weekly seats this summer.
Finnair has restarted flights to Nagoya for the first time since the pandemic, with its first flight back touching down on Thursday evening – this marks the Japanese airport’s first direct connection to Europe in over four years.
Finnair returns to Nagoya
Finnair Flight AY79 departed Helsinki Airport (HEL) at 00:15 this morning before touching down at Chubu Centrair International Airport (NGO) near Nagoya at around 18:30 local time. The service will initially resume with two weekly flights – the outbound from Helsinki will depart on Thursdays and Sundays, with the return from Nagoya leaving on Fridays and Mondays.
The full schedule is as follows:
|
Flight Number |
Departure |
Arrival |
|---|---|---|
|
AY 79 |
Departs HEL at 00:50 |
Arrives NGO at 19:05 |
|
AY 80 |
Departs NGO at 22:50 |
Arrives HEL at 05:55 |
The airline adds that flights are specifically timed to enable seamless connections to its UK and Irish network, which includes London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin. Nagoya is Japan’s fourth-largest city home to a blend of modern and ancient attractions, as well as being within touching distance of the Japanese Alps skiing scene.
Related
Finnair Is Returning To Japan’s Nagoya For The 1st Time Since COVID-19
Finnair has added a fourth Japanese destination to its network for the upcoming summer season in 2024.
The route will be served by Finnair’s fleet of Airbus A350-900s, which come in two configurations offering business, premium economy and economy seating. Fares are on sale starting at £813 in Economy, £1,562 in premium economy, or £2,828 in business class, with the price including taxes and charges.
Reconnecting to Europe
This route relaunch marks Nagoya’s first European connection since the pandemic and remains its only direct European route. As per Cirium data from 2019, Finnair previously operated a daily frequency on this route, offering over 4,200 weekly seats between Helsinki and Nagoya. During this period, Nagota benefited from another European connection in Frankfurt (FRA) served by German flag carrier Lufthansa.
Photo: Lee Yiu Tung | Shutterstock
Finnair will serve four Japanese destinations this summer—Tokyo Haneda (HND), Tokyo Narita (NRT), Kansai International (KIX), and Nagoya—offering over 14,000 weekly seats to and from its Helsinki base. The Finnish carrier’s modern A350 fleet, which consists of 17 A350-900s with an average age of below seven years old, will serve all of these routes.
The airline has seen its Asian network recover well in the last 18 months following the COVID slump and the added complication of Russian airspace closing down, forcing Finnair to adopt longer and more costly routings. It is also in the midst of realizing a network-wide expansion this year, which will see the carrier bolster flights to the UK and Ireland in October.
Have you ever flown with Finnair to Japan? How did you find the experience? Let us know your stories in the comments.