New source:
https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...ng-from-april/
Finnair is giving its non-stop flights between Helsinki and Hong Kong a boost this winter season with added frequency that will see the service operate twice per day from next April onwards.
The current 10-times-weekly service will be gradually boosted throughout the winter season, with frequency going to 11 weekly flights from November 3, then 12 weekly from December 10, before boosting to twice a day from April 1, 2019.
“The new frequencies for our Hong Kong service are testament to the popularity of our product in the Hong Kong market and our confidence in the Greater China area and Asia,” said Stan Kwong, regional head at Finnair.
“As well as increasing our market share, we are also seeing travel between Asia and Europe steadily growing in recent years and we expect that trend to continue in the future.”
As with its current 10 weekly flights to and from Hong Kong, the added flights will be operated by one of the airline’s newer aircraft, the Airbus A350-900.
Finnair has two configurations for this aircraft, one with 32 business class seats and another with 46. The latter is currently deployed on the route.
That's great news for me!!!!! Before AY added the daytime flight, I could only take SU on my trips to Europe if I want to get a good timing (depart HKG morning, arrive evening). AY102 is now my alternative to SU213 for me to go to Europe, and in case SU's economy become more expensive than premium economy I can take AY's economy instead, and by returning on AY99 I can have one more afternoon for my Europe trip. (by returning on SU212 I basically need to arrive the airport at noon to take the connecting flight)
However, a bad thing about AY is that it doesn't offer lower booking classes for short weekend trips (less than 4 days), unlike SU where a Sunday qualifies for a low-fare between HKG and Europe, so I have to stay with SU for short weekend trips, arriving on Friday and returning on Monday.