Summer 2013: HEL-XIY
 

Finnair will begin flying to Xi´an in summer 2013, further deepening the airline’s network of Asian destinations. Finnair will begin service to Xi´an from its hub in Helsinki with three frequencies per week starting June 14 until the close of the summer season on October 26. The first direct connection between Xi´an and Europe is Finnair’s latest step toward its goal of doubling Asian revenue by 2020.

What is the source for this news?

How nice would it be if people at FT would use google news before asking for the source... http://www.globenewswire.com/news-re...th-Europe.html

The airline:

20.12.2012 06:30:00 - OMX Helsinki, News
FIA1S: Finnair Oyj - Finnair to be the first airline to connect Xi´an with Europe
Finnair Plc
Company Announcement

Finnair to be the first airline to connect Xi´an with Europe

Finnair Plc Stock Exchange Release December 20, 2012 at 6.30 a.m. EET

Finnair will begin flying to Xi´an in summer 2013, further deepening the
airline’s network of Asian destinations. Finnair will begin service to Xi´an
from its hub in Helsinki with three frequencies per week starting June 14 until
the close of the summer season on October 26. The first direct connection
between Xi´an and Europe is Finnair’s latest step toward its goal of doubling
Asian revenue by 2020.

Finnair earlier announced a new summer connection to Hanoi from June 15, also
with three frequencies per week.

“I’m very excited and pleased to announce Xi´an as our fifth destination in
China,” says CEO Mika Vehviläinen. “The fast-growing Chinese economy continues
to fuel rapid growth in demand for air travel to and from Europe, and to open
up new opportunities for Finnair. We have a history of pioneering better
connections between Europe and China going back to 1988, when we began flying
to Beijing. We look forward to building on that history and offering the
quickest and smoothest itineraries between dozens of European destinations and
Xi´an.”

Located in central-northwest China, Xi´an is a metropolis of about 8 million
people and a growing centre in the development of China’s aerospace and
software industries. The city is also an ancient imperial capital an
d an
historic cradle of Chinese civilisation. The world-famous Terracotta Army, the
vast collection of burial sculptures found around the mausoleum of Emperor Qin
Shi Huang, is located about 40 km to the east of the city centre.

Earlier this year, Finnair became the first airline to directly connect Europe
with Chongqing, another fast-growing inland megacity. Elsewhere in China,
Finnair also flies to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. A further eight
destinations round out Finnair’s Asian network: Bangkok, Delhi, Hanoi, Nagoya,
Osaka, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.

About Finnair
Finnair is specialised in fast connections between Europe and Asia via
Helsinki. The airline carries more than eight million passengers annually and
connects 13 cities in Asia with more than 60 destinations in Europe. The
airline, a pioneer in sustainable flying, operates a young, modern fleet and
has the highest score of any publically disclosing airline in the worldwide
Carbon Disclosure Project. The only Nordic carrier with a 4-star Skytrax
ranking, Finnair also has won the World Airline Award for Best Airline Northern
Europe for the past three years running. Finnair is a member of oneworld, the
world’s leading quality alliance.

Further information:
Finnair Media Desk, tel. +358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com

Distribution:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Principal Media

Where does the capacity for these and the Hanoi flights come from? Are cuts to other longhaul destinations to be expected?

Well, China has a couple of megacities, so AY might be on the right track.

From wikipedia

By the end of 2005, Xi'an had a population of 8.07 million

Shanxi province (2010) - 37,3 million

I guess this is enough of a population base to fill a daily flight.

My guess is from NRT and HKG extra flights or new plane coming.

I think from the NRT route, sadly. With JL's B787 coming online on this route in the exact same slots, AY will move its own metal to china, and focus to sell codeshare seats to NRT.
Unless AY magically finds some fuel efficient wide bodies to lease in the near future...

A link would surely help everyone to check the facts. Searching is only the second best option. Getting the news in any format is of course paramount.

Merry Xmas everyone!

I heard rumors that they would be considering to cease operations to Singapore. But I have no factual evidence on this.

I hope AY does not plan on using its 757 with 28" pitch seats on this route. Won't last long.

That's definitely not the plan. I admit that this was the option that I feared at first.

It would be logical from an operations viewpoint, since they cannot make the turnaround and be back in 24h.
But there must be something that attracts AY to SIN, since they recently re-opened the route. I mean, they knew the A350s would be delayed and yet opened a route that is hungry for metal.

One part was the possibly to send people to Australia on codeshare flights with Qantas. I have understood that this will be gone after the change of QF timetable. Earlier the SIN-Australia timetables were planned European connecting flights in mind. But in the future the purpose will be Australia-Singapore local market. Qantas will use Dubai as the transfer point, not any more SIN, (and to a lesser extent HKG and BKK).

Sorry about missing link.
I was overseas and using my wifes Iphone and I know nothing about using it and how to copy/paste link. :)