On 10 November, Oneworld partners Finnair and Cathay Pacific unveiled an expanded codeshare that places Finnair’s “AY” designator on six Cathay-operated routes from Hong Kong to Adelaide, Colombo, Jakarta, Penang, Phuket and Surabaya. The first AY-coded seats became bookable the same day for travel from 15 November onwards.
The update deepens a relationship that previously covered only the Helsinki–Hong Kong trunk route. For Finnair, whose Asia network is still constrained by Russian airspace closures, piggybacking on Cathay’s Southeast Asian reach restores one-stop access for Northern European corporates to key manufacturing and offshore-service hubs.
![Finnair widens codeshare with Cathay Pacific, adding six Hong Kong-beyond sectors]()
Cathay benefits from additional feed on its regional flights as well as intercontinental traffic via Finnair’s Arctic-routing services to Europe, which often arrive in Hong Kong in the early morning—perfectly timed for same-day onward connections. Travel managers should update fare-comparison tools: preliminary filings show Finnair-marketed fares are on average €60 cheaper round-trip than equivalent Cathay-only tickets, though seat inventory is limited in premium cabins.
Visa regimes remain unchanged; passengers will clear immigration only at their final destination. Nevertheless, companies should remind staff that transit times under 24 hours in Hong Kong remain visa-exempt for most nationalities, but longer layovers may require a transit visa for Sri Lankan and Indonesian passport holders.
The update deepens a relationship that previously covered only the Helsinki–Hong Kong trunk route. For Finnair, whose Asia network is still constrained by Russian airspace closures, piggybacking on Cathay’s Southeast Asian reach restores one-stop access for Northern European corporates to key manufacturing and offshore-service hubs.
Cathay benefits from additional feed on its regional flights as well as intercontinental traffic via Finnair’s Arctic-routing services to Europe, which often arrive in Hong Kong in the early morning—perfectly timed for same-day onward connections. Travel managers should update fare-comparison tools: preliminary filings show Finnair-marketed fares are on average €60 cheaper round-trip than equivalent Cathay-only tickets, though seat inventory is limited in premium cabins.
Visa regimes remain unchanged; passengers will clear immigration only at their final destination. Nevertheless, companies should remind staff that transit times under 24 hours in Hong Kong remain visa-exempt for most nationalities, but longer layovers may require a transit visa for Sri Lankan and Indonesian passport holders.
