Finnair will begin flying to Melbourne next autumn, marking the Nordic carrier’s first-ever scheduled service between Finland and Australia.
Flights between Helsinki Airport and Melbourne Airport will operate daily via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport using Airbus A350 aircraft. The one-stop service is scheduled to begin Oct. 25, 2026, subject to government approvals.
“By connecting Helsinki and Melbourne, two cities on opposite sides of the world, we can offer a truly unique bridge between the northern and southern hemispheres,” Finnair Chief Revenue Officer Christine Rovelli says. “We expect that this new route will appeal to travelers from Europe heading to Australia, as well as Australians exploring northern Europe and beyond.”
Under the proposed timetable, the outbound flight will depart Helsinki shortly after midnight, arrive in Bangkok in the afternoon and continue on to Melbourne after a brief stop, landing the following morning. The return service will leave Melbourne in the afternoon, stop in Bangkok in the evening and arrive back in Helsinki early the next day. Finnair says the schedule is designed to align with its first morning departure bank across Europe while maximizing A350 utilization.
Finnair has already been operating a pair of A330-300s for Oneworld alliance partner Qantas under a wet-lease agreement, flying Sydney-Bangkok and Sydney-Singapore services. The arrangement has helped Qantas bolster capacity while allowing Finnair to utilize A330s that are less optimal for its own network following the closure of Russian airspace.
In addition to the wet-lease operation, Finnair is also dry-leasing two A330s to Qantas. Speaking during the airline’s third-quarter results briefing on Oct. 30, CEO Turkka Kuusisto said the wet-lease flying will end for the summer 2026 season, with the two aircraft and their crews returning to Finnair’s network, while the dry-lease arrangements will continue.
Finnair will become the third European carrier to serve Australia, joining British Airways and Turkish Airlines. Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus says the new route marks a big win for the state of Victoria.
“We know that an average daily international flight is worth A$190 million to the Victorian economy, so Finnair choosing Melbourne to launch its Australian operations is not only a huge vote of confidence, but also a boost for jobs in our state,” she says.
That planned launch comes as Finnair adjusts its network due to uneven market conditions. During a third-quarter briefing, Kuusisto described the North Atlantic market as a “huge challenge,” citing softness in demand and yields that led Finnair to report a double-digit decline in unit revenues and a high single-digit drop in load factors on transatlantic routes.
Asia, however, continues to perform strongly. Finnair operated 25 weekly flights to Japan during the summer, making it the largest European carrier in that market by frequency. Kuusisto said yields and load factors across the Far East network remain robust despite longer routings.
Related Content
