Finnair to serve Seattle next summer
Originally published on AeroNewsX
Finnair has announced that it will operate three flights a week to Seattle in 2022 This route could also pave the way for a codeshare agreement between Finnair and fellow Oneworld partner airline, Alaska Airlines. Seattle has become an increasingly popular U.S. west coast destination amongst Oneworld alliance airlines. Currently, six of the fourteen Oneworld members airlines set to operate flights to Seattle next summer.
Finnair Airbus A330-300 registered OH-LTM at Helsinki Airport (HEL). Photo by Anselm Ranta | AeroNewsX.
As one of the founding members of the Oneworld alliance, Finnair is the latest airline to announce flights to Seattle. Flights will depart from Helsinki Airport (HEL) on June 1st and will be operated on a three times weekly basis, departing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Finnair has not yet revealed the exact flight schedule times, while tickets for the route are also not on sale. Just under a year ago, when Qatar Airways launched flights to Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA), the service was originally going to be flown on an Airbus A350. This was then switched to a Boeing 777, in part out of respect for Boeing, which builds the 777 in Seattle. Finnair only operates widebody Airbus aircraft, which means that the route will be operated by either an A330 or A350.
Seattle is also a key hub for Alaska Airlines, which recently joined the Oneworld alliance. Qatar Airways started flying to Seattle in order to take advantage of a codeshare agreement with Alaska Airlines. Therefore, it would make logical sense for Finnair to develop a similar codeshare agreement with Alaska Airlines that incorporates Seattle.
In addition, Finnair confirmed that it will continue flying to Los Angeles and not just from its hub in Helsinki. Earlier this year, Finnair started flying some long-haul routes from Stockholm, in Sweden. The airline revealed that it will continue to operate flights to New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from Sweden over the 2022 summer period. Finnair will up its frequencies on these two routes to four times weekly and are scheduled to commence on May 1st, 2022.
