In an extraordinary development, Finnair has announced that it will commence flights to Australia. In ten months, it’ll take off from Helsinki to Melbourne via Bangkok. Fifth freedom rights will exist between the capitals of Thailand and Victoria.

It is probably the most significant new route announced in 2025. It is perhaps even more unusual than United Airlines flying between San Francisco and Adelaide. Not coincidentally, Finnair and Qantas are both oneworld members, while Australia’s flag carrier continues to lease Finnair’s Airbus A330s.

The Brand-New Route Will Operate Daily

It would be reasonable to assume that this never-before-served market from Helsinki to Melbourne would be flown three times a week. After all, that’s a perfectly usual initial frequency, and it reduces expenses and risk. In fact, it is the only frequency of all of Australia’s international routes starting in December 2025.

But no. Finnair will operate daily. Even Turkish Airlines only serves Melbourne three times a week from Istanbul. Finnair’s first departure from Europe will take place on October 26, 2026. Sensibly, the route will begin in time for the summer Down Under and Christmas, both helping with demand and fares.

The Airbus A350-900 will be deployed, which is Finnair’s flagship aircraft. Unless things change, it’ll have to continue to avoid Russian and Ukrainian airspace en route to and from Bangkok, extending the distance flown. Allowing for this, the route to Australia might cover a considerable 9,150 nautical miles (16,946 km) or more each way. Still, it is significantly shorter than the world’s new one-stop service.

Hang On: Helsinki To Melbourne?

You’d certainly be forgiven for thinking that this mind-boggling route makes little sense. And as you might expect, the market between Helsinki and Melbourne is minuscule. According to booking data, fewer than 10,000 people flew between the two cities in the 12 months to October 2025. For context, that was about the same number of people as from Zagreb. It’ll also capture some of the 13,000 people who flew between Helsinki and Sydney, connecting to Qantas flights in Melbourne.

Finnair would say it is an extension of its existing Bangkok route, which will have up to three daily flights next winter, and that risk will be reduced somewhat by transporting passengers between the Thai capital and Melbourne. But it is nonetheless a highly unusual route, commercially speaking.

It’d also say that it will transport passengers between the Nordics and the Baltics, in particular, and Melbourne. And it’s true, it will. Its schedule—departing from Helsinki at 12:10 am and arriving back around 6:05 am two days later—is constructed for it. You’d expect nothing less. But traffic isn’t huge. Copenhagen-Melbourne has 18,000 passengers, while Stockholm had 11,000, Oslo had 9,000, Gothenburg, Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius each had fewer than 2,000, etc.

Finnair’s passengers would have to stop twice: in Helsinki and Bangkok. This setup is similar to Turkish Airlines’ offering to Australia, where they currently change planes in Istanbul and stop in Kuala Lumpur/Singapore. There are often quicker one-stop services via Gulf hubs. In fact, flydubai just began flying from Dubai to Riga and Vilnius, with passengers able to connect to Emirates’ Australian flights. Some Finnair passengers, including those from Copenhagen, would have to backtrack. With a daily flight to fill, it might have to discount more to help fill its many seats, which is exactly what’s not wanted on such a long-haul operation.

The 3rd European Airline To Australia

While multiple European airlines have previously flown to Australia, only two carriers from that continent still operate. Cirium Diio data shows that British Airways runs daily from London Heathrow to Sydney via Singapore, while Turkish Airlines has two routes: Istanbul-Singapore-Melbourne (three weekly) and Istanbul-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney (mainly five weekly). Of course, Turkish hopes to eventually fly nonstop with its A350-1000s.

Very few people would have expected Finnair to become the third European passenger airline to fly to Australia. It’s a very long way, it’s highly expensive to operate, and there’s more competition than ever, including via the Middle East and China. It’s certainly a bold move.