Helsinki airport to receive more Chinese visitors via Yekaterinburg

The Helsinki Airport is set to receive more Chinese passengers via Russia's Yekaterinburg, as Russian Ural Airlines starts twice-weekly service between Helsinki and Yekaterinburg, Finnish officials said Wednesday.

The Ural Airlines will collaborate closely with the travel agency UTour to bring more passengers from China to Finland via Yekaterinburg. The service is seasonal and will be operated from June until October.

Ural reportedly is also increasing its number of flights linking Yekaterinburg and China's Beijing and trying to match them with flights bound for European cities.

Welcoming the arrival of Ural Airlines on Wednesday, Senior Vice President of Finnish Airports Authority Finavia Joni Sundelin noted the recent growth of incoming Chinese passengers at the Helsinki Airport.

According to officials, the Helsinki Airport has strengthened assistance to Chinese customers on arrival and departure and Chinese speaking shopping guides will be available at the airport this summer.

In 2008, Finnish national carrier Finnair launched flight connections between Yekaterinburg and Helsinki, which, a year round service, is being operated by Finnair subsidiary Norra using mainly Embraer aircraft. Ural Airlines however use Airbus A320 on its Helsinki-Yekaterinburg routes.

Moreover, according to Sundelin, this spring Finnair resumed flight services to and from Guangzhou, Southern China, after a pause of around ten years.