Finnair is to become the first European carrier to offer non-stop scheduled passenger links to the expanding southwestern Chinese city of Chonqing, home to the country’s largest urban population. Finnair currently serves ten other destinations in Asia and the continent is a key part of its long-haul business strategy providing connections from around Europe via its Helsinki Airport hub. The Nordic carrier will offer a four times weekly service on the route from May 9, 2012 using an Airbus A340-300 on the eight and a half hour journey.

Situated on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, Greater Chongqing has a population of 32 million, a number that is expected to double over the next five years. “China is a key part of our Europe-Asia strategy. Western China is an important growth area, and the new route will strengthen our market share in the growing Asian markets. In addition to Chongqing, Finnair flies to Beijing, Shanghai and to Hong Kong with a total of 26 weekly flights,” said Mika Vehviläinen, President and Chief Executive officer, Finnair.

Finnair has high hopes for the new route. In addition to Chinese companies based in the region many Western business, especially in the electronics, automotive and chemical industries, are currently expanding their operations in the city, so the demand for corporate travel is enormous. Also cargo growth prospects are promising due to industrial growth. The airline says the early stages of marketing will focus on business travellers, but Chongqing also offers much to see for tourists interested in China’s history and nature. Visitors can enjoy the historical buildings, temples and natural beauty, as well as the Dazu Rock Carvings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and hot springs. Chongqing also provides convenient access to river cruises on the Jialing and Yangtze rivers, and the city is well connected to Lhasa, Xian and Kunming.

An estimated 26,000 O&D passengers are believed to have travelled between Europe and Chongqing in the past year and the table above highlights the main markets. Looking at it from a country perspective, the largest traffic flows are from Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy, with only a limited number travelling from Helsinki or the wider Finnish market.

“Our co-operation with the Chongqing authorities and the local airport has been very good when planning this new route, and we are very grateful for the assistance that we have received during our preparations. The smooth co-operation has accelerated the route planning process, which is very important in this rapidly changing business,” added Mika Vehviläinen.

The growth of Chongqing has been amazing and the city’s airport, Jiangbei International, is working hard to expand capacity to meet growing demand. There are currently links to around 80 cities across domestic and Asian markets and plans to add more links to other regions, including the Middle East, Africa and more destinations in Europe. Infrastructure projects at the airport will see capacity increased to 45 mppa over the next four years.

As the table above shows, Air China has the largest presence at Jiangbei International based on weekly seat capacity, but it is actually Sichuan Airlines that serves the most markets with links to over 35 destinations.