Finnair launches extra Asia routes

FINNAIR has started flying to the Chinese city Xi’an and Hanoi in Vietnam.

The airline says it is the only European carrier offering direct connections between the two cities and Europe.

Travellers flying from Manchester can connect with the service in Helsinki.

Finnair will operate service to both cities three times a week throughout the summer – until October 26 for Xi’an, in central north west China, and October 27 for Hanoi.

Chief executive Pekka Vauramo said: “This week marks an important milestone in Finnair’s 90 years of history, as we build on a legacy of building better connections between Europe and Asia and bring our total number of Asian destinations to 13.

“Strong economic growth in China and Vietnam, combined with a growing appetite for outbound travel from both destinations, are driving our strategic focus on Asian traffic. There continue to be many exciting opportunities for growth in the East.”

Clive Drinkwater, UKTI regional director, said: “China remains a vitally important market for the region. North West exports to China were nearly £1.2bn in the first three quarters of 2012 – over 11% up on the same period in 2011 and higher than the whole year’s exports in 2010.

“This means that we are on target to beat the current record of £1.5bn in 2011, and if we add in the figures for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan it is likely that we will break the £2bn mark for exports to Greater China for the first time ever. Airlines such as Finnair open up important trade routes between the North West region and Asia.”