Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa) and Juneyao Air (HO, Shanghai Hongqiao) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to establish a joint venture on routes between China and Europe.

The two airlines have an existing codeshare partnership covering domestic services in China and Finland, and services between the two countries. Subject to the required regulatory approvals, their planned joint venture would cover the Helsinki Vantaa-Shanghai Pudong route (served daily by each of the carriers).

"Despite these immensely challenging times for our industry, we at Finnair remain steadfast in our belief and commitment to China as a key market and to Juneyao Air as a key partner... Taking the important step to evolve this into deeper cooperation focused on our Shanghai and Helsinki hubs will allow us to not only serve our current customers even better but also to lay a platform for further growth in the future, once the aviation market starts to normalise," Finnair's Chief Commercial Officer Ole Orver said.

The existing codeshare agreement covers Finnair-operated flights from Helsinki Vantaa to four destinations in Finland, Nanjing, and Shanghai, as well as Juneyao Air-operated flights from Pudong to nine points in China and Helsinki, from Shanghai Hongqiao to Chongqing, and from Nanjing to Xi'an Xianyang.

"Once implemented, the joint venture cooperation will enable significant further expansion of codesharing across the networks of both partners, particularly to key points behind Shanghai Pudong and Helsinki," the airlines said in a press release.

Helsinki is one of two destinations Juneyao Air serves in the European Union, the other being Athens.