Finnair announced on 27 February that the airline will join many other European airlines and suspend its flights in Russian airspace for one week. With this action, Finnair prepares for the possible upcoming regulatory changes, the airline said.
Finnair cancels its passenger and/or cargo flights to Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in Asia and to Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia between 28 February and 6 March. Flights to Hongkong were already earlier canceled until the end of March.
Finnair continues to operate passenger and/or cargo flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, and Delhi but reroutes the flights to avoid Russian airspace. This lengthens the flight times by approximately one hour. Finnair flies to Bangkok and Phuket also from Stockholm Arlanda in addition to Helsinki.
Finnair communicates flight cancellations directly to customers who have bookings on the canceled flights and does its best to reroute customers to their destinations on other flights. Customers can also apply for a full refund for the unused ticket. In addition, Finnair has made changes to its refund policy. Customers can cancel their flight and apply for a refund if they have a flight to South Korea, Japan, or China between 27 February and 13 March. A full refund is possible for flights to Russia for the time being.
The decision on Russian airspace usage after March 6 will be made later as the possible regulatory changes clarify.
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