Finland’s aviation hub at Helsinki Airport has won back a nonstop connection to mainland China after a five-year hiatus. Finavia confirmed on 15 January that China Southern Airlines will inaugurate service between Beijing Daxing and Helsinki on 29 March 2026, operating the 6,440-km sector three times a week with Boeing 787-9 aircraft before moving to daily service from 20 June. The route rebuilds one of Helsinki’s most important long-haul markets, which disappeared during the pandemic and China’s lengthy border closure.
The comeback is strategically significant for both the airport operator and Finland’s wider economy. Pre-Covid, direct China traffic underpinned Finavia’s “Fast Transfer” model, funnelling Asian passengers to 140 European destinations via 35-minute minimum connection times. Losing that feed hurt transfer volumes and retail sales; re-establishing Beijing should restore high-yield business travel and belly-hold cargo flows for exporters such as Nokia and biotech specialist Orion. It also gives Chinese corporates and tour operators a one-stop, visa-efficient gateway into Northern Europe and the Baltics.
Travel planners should also consider the visa angle. Whether travelers need a Chinese entry permit or a Schengen visa for Finland, VisaHQ can streamline the process with online applications, document checks and courier services. Their Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) offers the latest requirements and step-by-step guidance, helping both corporate mobility teams and individual tourists make the most of the revived Beijing–Helsinki link.
![China Southern to Restore Beijing–Helsinki Link With Tri-Weekly Flights From March]()
China Southern gains a foothold in the Nordic market that no mainland carrier currently serves. The thrice-weekly schedule—Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday departures—has been timed to allow onward evening connections on Finnair and airBaltic banks to Stockholm, Tallinn and Copenhagen. From late June the flight will run daily, increasing the seat supply to roughly 4,200 weekly and offering more Premium Economy capacity than competitors on the route via hubs such as Frankfurt or Doha.
For mobility managers the practical implications are clear. Booking windows are now open in the GDS, with round-trip business-class fares pricing under €3,000—around 15 percent below typical one-stop options. Finnish assignees posted in China will recover a same-day return possibility that cuts door-to-door journey time by six hours. Companies should review travel policies to add China Southern as a preferred carrier and update duty-of-care tracking systems to reflect a new transfer point at Daxing. Cargo shippers should also factor Helsinki back into multimodal routings for high-value electronics and pharma shipments bound for Beijing and Tianjin.
Finavia says the announcement underlines Finland’s rebound as a Northern European aviation gateway and signals a broader revival in Asian connectivity that it expects to accelerate once the EU’s new Entry/Exit digital border system goes live later this year.(finavia.fi)
The comeback is strategically significant for both the airport operator and Finland’s wider economy. Pre-Covid, direct China traffic underpinned Finavia’s “Fast Transfer” model, funnelling Asian passengers to 140 European destinations via 35-minute minimum connection times. Losing that feed hurt transfer volumes and retail sales; re-establishing Beijing should restore high-yield business travel and belly-hold cargo flows for exporters such as Nokia and biotech specialist Orion. It also gives Chinese corporates and tour operators a one-stop, visa-efficient gateway into Northern Europe and the Baltics.
Travel planners should also consider the visa angle. Whether travelers need a Chinese entry permit or a Schengen visa for Finland, VisaHQ can streamline the process with online applications, document checks and courier services. Their Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) offers the latest requirements and step-by-step guidance, helping both corporate mobility teams and individual tourists make the most of the revived Beijing–Helsinki link.
China Southern gains a foothold in the Nordic market that no mainland carrier currently serves. The thrice-weekly schedule—Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday departures—has been timed to allow onward evening connections on Finnair and airBaltic banks to Stockholm, Tallinn and Copenhagen. From late June the flight will run daily, increasing the seat supply to roughly 4,200 weekly and offering more Premium Economy capacity than competitors on the route via hubs such as Frankfurt or Doha.
For mobility managers the practical implications are clear. Booking windows are now open in the GDS, with round-trip business-class fares pricing under €3,000—around 15 percent below typical one-stop options. Finnish assignees posted in China will recover a same-day return possibility that cuts door-to-door journey time by six hours. Companies should review travel policies to add China Southern as a preferred carrier and update duty-of-care tracking systems to reflect a new transfer point at Daxing. Cargo shippers should also factor Helsinki back into multimodal routings for high-value electronics and pharma shipments bound for Beijing and Tianjin.
Finavia says the announcement underlines Finland’s rebound as a Northern European aviation gateway and signals a broader revival in Asian connectivity that it expects to accelerate once the EU’s new Entry/Exit digital border system goes live later this year.(finavia.fi)
