On August 29, Finnair and Qatar Airways concluded an agreement to establish long-term strategic cooperation between Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen and Doha. Both airlines are also considering opening services also between another European destination and Doha which I believe would be Oslo.
Finnair and Qatar Airways Strategic Partnership
With the strategic partnership supported by a comprehensive codeshare agreement, Finnair and Qatar Airways will share passenger and cargo capacities. Additionally, customers will benefit from seamless connections via Doha to over 100 destinations across Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa with Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways customers will have more diverse opportunities in the Nordic cities.
Finnair will Operate Flights to Doha, Qatar
With the strategic partnership with Qatar Airways, Finnair will operate the below flights as of November 1, 2022:
- 7 weekly flights to and from Helsinki
- 7 weekly flights to and from Stockholm
- 7 weekly flights to and from Copenhagen
Daily flights from Helsinki to Doha will commence on December 16, 2022. So the flights out of Stockholm and Copenhagen will be starting first on the first of November.
The schedules for each flight are as follows:
- Helsinki(HEL) – Doha(DOH) : AY1981 DEP 16:00 ARR 23:45
- Doha(DOH) – Helskinki(HEL) : AY1982 DEP 08:00 ARR 14:15
- Stockholm(ARN) – Doha(DOH) : AY1983 DEP 15:10 ARR 23:50
- Doha(DOH) – Stockholm(ARN) : AY1984 DEP 08:10 ARR 13:25
- Copenhagen(CPH) – Doha(DOH) : AY1985 DEP 15:15 ARR 23:30
- Doha(DOH) – Copenhagen(CPH) : AY1986 DEP 08:15 ARR 13:10
Finnair will specifically use Airbus A330 aircraft featuring Finnair’s new long-haul cabins with Colins’ AirLounge business class seats, a brand-new premium economy and refurbished economy class.
Qatar Airways currently operates a combination of Boeing B777, B787-8/-9 and Airbus A350s to Scandinavian routes. Except for the B787-8s and select A350s, the rest of the aircraft feature Qsuite and Qsuite2.0.
Summary
Finnair and Qatar Airways announced a strategic partnership where the two airlines will have a codesharing agreement with shared passenger and cargo capacities.
The services are planned to start between November and December 2022 so we could expect there will be more Nordic cities available on Qatar Airways booking options as well as over 100 destinations on Finnair’s website.
With Finnair operating refurbished A330s and Qatar Airways offering various business class seats, there are more options for passengers to choose to fly on their favorite seats.
