Finland’s once-brisk China ties rattled as Russia sanctions fracture travel, trade links

In the wake of the Ukraine war, Finland has lost some of its connectivity with China as its role as a convenient link to Europe has been diminished

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Previously robust trade and travel ties between Finland and China are being tested, as the European country’s participations in sanctions against Russia have cut off some of its links to the East Asian powerhouse. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:00pm, 13 Jul 2024

Finland, once a major transport hub linking China and Europe, has lost much of its allure since severing transit links with Russia over the Ukraine war, the country’s consul general said – an issue compounded by a lack of visa-free access to China for Finns that much of the continent’s population now enjoys.

Before the war, Finland had a unique position among European countries as its flights could zip over Russia to China in 9 hours on certain routes, Consul General Timo Kantola told the Post. This made it a natural choice for tourism and business travel, as flights from China to other parts of northern Europe would often take longer or require transfers.

Flag carrier Finnair’s direct flights to China have fallen in number since the Russia-Ukraine conflict intensified in 2022 and Finland joined the European Union’s united front against Moscow, Kantola said. The airline had to divert away from Russian airspace to comply with sanctions, charting new flight paths over Turkey that add about three hours to each leg of China trips, he said.

“It’s clear that closing Russian airspace has been a big change for Finnair, and the airline has had to adapt,” he said.

The central Chinese city of Zhengzhou and Helsinki established four weekly direct flights in 2020, but an older Helsinki-Shanghai route has lost 9 per cent of its scheduled flights since 2019. Routes from Helsinki to six other Chinese cities have stopped, according to data from the Cirium consultancy.

“The advantage of Helsinki was its geographic position and speedy routings through Russian airspace that attracted large volumes of travellers from northern Europe,” said John Grant, a senior analyst with British aviation data firm OAG. Finnair, he said, has “seen a huge fall in demand” due to the resultant extensions of flight times and airfare increases.