As part of its strategy of sustainable profitable growth, Finnair extends the operating season of its newly announced Sapporo route to year-round operations. Finnair will fly between Helsinki, Finland and Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan with an Airbus A330 aircraft twice a week year-round from 15 December 2019.

Hokkaido is well known for its stunning landscapes and fantastic outdoor activities both in summer and winter. Hokkaido is a popular winter and skiing destination, and famous for its seafood, ramen and Japanese onsen or hot spring spas.

Finnair is the only European airline to operate direct scheduled flights between Sapporo and Europe.

Flights to Sapporo are operated in the winter season on with departures from Helsinki on Sundays and Thursdays, and departures from Sapporo on Mondays and Fridays. In the summer season the operating days are Sundays and Wednesdays from Helsinki and Mondays and Thursdays from Sapporo. The flight time is approximately nine hours.

Sapporo is Finnair’s fifth destination in Japan, in addition to Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. As announced earlier, Finnair will also open direct daily route to Tokyo´s Haneda Airport as of March 2020. The new frequencies to and from Haneda will be in addition to Finnair’s daily flights to Tokyo’s Narita Airport.

“Adding Sapporo to our network is very exciting,” says Christian Lesjak, Senior Vice President, Network and Resource Management. “Japan is Finnair´s largest market outside our home market Finland, and with five key Japanese cities in our network, we are now the largest European airline flying to Japan.”

Finnair will also add capacity to Osaka in Japan by adding two weekly frequencies on the route starting as of the start of the 2020 summer season. The total number of Finnair´s weekly flights on the route will thus increase to 12.

Both Sapporo and Osaka routes are operated in codeshare with Finnair´s long-standing partner Japan Airlines. Finnair is a member of Siberian Joint Venture together with Japan Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. Together, the member airlines offer more choice and flexibility for customers traveling between Europe and Japan.