Finnair Announce First Flights of Their Brand New A350

Our favourite Nordic Airline, Finnair has announced their A350 is ready for booking. The new aircraft, which will set a new benchmark in travel for the carrier, will be the first airline to operate the new aircraft to China, where Shanghai will be served with daily A350 service from 25th October 2015. Beijing follows with daily A350 service on the 21st November 2015.

The aircraft will also help serve its Helsinki – Bangkok route. As of 4th December 2015, the A350 and a modern, comfortable A330 aircraft will cover the very popular destination for Finnair’s passengers. Daily services to Hong Kong from 1st February 2016 and to Singapore from 5th May 2016 will also be operated with a combination of A350 and A330 aircraft.

“We are thrilled to reach this important milestone as we gear up for a seamless transition to A350 operations,” says Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo. “Our A350 investment program is the largest in the company’s 92-year history, and these aircraft will form the backbone of our long-haul operations for years to come while also playing an essential role in our sustainable, long-term profitability. I can truly speak for all employees when I say we cannot wait to welcome passengers on board.”

The future fleet on 19 aircraft will be delivered in stages, with four being delivered this year, seven the following year and the remaining eight between 2018 and 2023. If you enjoyed flying on Finnair’s A340s, then perhaps book yourself a ticket soon. The carrier will be yet another to phase the four engined beauty out of their fleet by 2017.

Good news though, you don’t have to fly long-haul to experience this new jet in Europe. Finnair will conduct crew familiarisation flights throughout Europe during October. These regularly scheduled commercial services will be operated as usual within the Finnair network, just with an A350 rather than the usual narrowbody aircraft.

As part of this crew familiarisation, Finnair’s first ever commercial A350 flight will be on October 5 to Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, followed in the next two weeks by other European cities such as Brussels, Hamburg, London, Stockholm and Vienna. The full list of planned crew familiarisation flights is published online at a350.finnair.com. However, if you can’t wait that long, check out the 3D visualisation of what the cabin experience will be like below.