Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa) has increased the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of ten of its seventeen A350-900s to allow for the carriage of more cargo on routes to East Asia that bypass Russian airspace.
The airline said it increased the MTOW of five aircraft from the standard 268 tonnes to 280 tonnes and a further five to 275 tonnes but refused to identify the specific aircraft when asked by ch-aviation. The other seven A350-900s will remain in a standard configuration. Airbus recently introduced the option of increasing the A350-900's MTOW to 283 tonnes. Finnair said it expects each modified aircraft to be able to carry an additional eight tonnes of cargo.
The Finnish flag carrier relied heavily on East Asia before the COVID-19 pandemic, benefitting from Helsinki Vantaa's favourable location on the northeastern tip of the European Union. However, the closure of Russian airspace to all western airlines, imposed in retaliation for sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has since turned the Finnish carrier's erstwhile advantage into a curse. Services to Japan or South Korea need to avoid overflying Siberia, which adds as many as four hours to flight times.
Despite these challenges, Finnair remains committed to East Asia's main markets. It currently operates daily flights to Seoul Incheon and Tokyo Haneda, 5x weekly to Hong Kong International, 2x weekly to Tokyo Narita, and 2x weekly to Shanghai Pudong, the ch-aviation capacities module shows. During the summer season, it plans to restart services to Osaka Kansai, and will increase the frequency of flights to Hong Kong to daily and to Narita to 4x weekly. Besides the A350s, the airline's widebody fleet also comprises eight A330-300s, which are not used on East Asian routes.
