Whilst we may be in the middle of winter, Finnair is preparing for some new services for the Winter 2019/2020 timetable – with Sapporo and Punta Cana being launched.
Finnair Airbus A330-300 at Helsinki Vantaa – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
Both of these routes will be seasonal, with the Sapporo service serving New Chitose Airport twice a week between the 15th December 2019 and 27th March 2020.
This will be Finnair’s fifth Japanese destination, with the airline currently serving Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka
The airline will also add a weekly service between Helsinki and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic – using an Airbus A350-900. This will compliment the existing Puerto Plata service which is operated weekly.
In quotes
Announcing the new Sapporo service, Christian Lesjak – Senior Vice President, Network and Resource Management – states
“Japan is a key market for us, and we are excited about adding Sapporo to our network”
“Finnair is the only European airline to fly a scheduled route to Sapporo, and with five key Japanese cities in our network, we are now the largest European carrier flying to Japan.”
New routes, minimal risks.
Both of these new routes could be considered very low risk from a routes and networks perspective. By committing to a two-times weekly route to Sapporo, and a single service a week to Punta Cana, over the latter part of the winter season – it’s a chance to discover if a route will work, or if it will cart fresh air around.
With the strength of the market in Japan, Sapporo should be interesting to work out how it fits. How Punta Cana work out will be down to holiday traffic.
Some challenging new routes.
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