Finland was once a key gateway for passengers and air freight shipments on routes between northern Europe and China. In the meantime, the former flow has become a trickle. This is because the long-standing advantage of short flight times between the two countries has grown from formerly nine hours to twelve hours or even more. From the moment Moscow’s air space closed for Western airlines, Finnair lost a key USP that had benefitted the carrier over many years.
Hans-Ulrich Klose, the former mayor of Hamburg, was known for his clear words. During a meeting of aviation journalists, he once said: “If I want to fly from Hamburg to China, why should I first fly to Frankfurt, Paris or London to catch a long-haul flight to Beijing, Guangzhou or Shanghai, from there, only to fly, four or five hours later at an altitude of around 10,000 meters above Hamburg, where I had begun my journey towards the Far East.” And he added: “The smarter route is Hamburg-Helsinki-China, which saves air travelers 5 hours or more.” His statement immediately caused outraged protests at Lufthansa.
Salmons demand speedy transport
Mr. Klose died in 2023. The hassle caused by time-consuming long-haul flights on routes between Europe and the Far East, has become even more acute since then. Hardest hit are passengers from Scandinavia and northern Germany, but also freight forwarders doing business there. This is particularly a challenge for Norwegians who rely heavily on time-definite salmon and seafood transportation bound for Korea and Japan. Flight times are longer, prices have increased, and greenhouse gas emissions per flight have also risen due to the detours Finnair or SAS are forced to take to avoid touching Russian airspace.
Sharply reduced flight program
Finnair has so far scrapped flights to six Chinese cities due to cost-cutting measures. Only Shanghai and Zhengzhou are still served, albeit with fewer frequencies. Since 2020, the formerly highly frequented Helsinki-Shanghai route has been cut by 9%. Flights between Helsinki to six other Chinese cities have been stopped altogether, as data identified and evaluated by Cirium consultancy, shows. “Helsinki’s main attraction was its favorable geographical position enabling shorter flying times between northern Europe and China, benefitting not only many travelers but shippers and forwarding agents alike,” states Nouri Neller, Managing Director of general sales agent and cargo broker, AirCargoConcept (ACC).
Trains stopped running
Meanwhile, the number of Chinese tourists to Finland toppled from a late-2019 peak of more than 40,000 per month, to last year’s monthly apex of around 12,000, according to the Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies, states South China Morning Post in a report. Rail services crossing the vast Siberian land bridge between China and Finland, have stopped altogether. As have trains formerly running between Helsinki and St. Petersburg, with onward transportation to final destinations in China.
Trade volumes go south
This all led to a sharp contraction of trade volumes between China and Finland. According to Chinese customs data, it reached USD 2.6 billion in the first five months of this year, versus USD 3.3 billion for the same time span in 2023. It doesn’t take a prophet to predict that the trade volume between the two countries will continue to decline, since the Russians do not appear to be willing to end their war against Ukraine. In that case, sanctions will not be eased but stepped up instead. These are not hopeful signs for intercontinental air traffic between China and Europe, not to mention the mounting technical and financial pressure bringing Russian airlines to their knees.
