Sichuan Airlines to add Helsinki as long-haul plans grow

In the latest expansion of Sichuan Airlines’ intercontinental services, the carrier will add a stop in Helsinki to its service between Copenhagen and Chengdu, China. The airline has also increased capacity on a service to Istanbul that originates from Chengdu, its home city and the provincial capital of Sichuan. Helsinki will be inserted into the twice-weekly Chengdu-Copenhagen service beginning in September, the airline said. The route, which opened in December, is operated by Airbus A330-200s. It depends heavily on Chinese tour groups for traffic, industry sources said. The Chengdu-Istanbul service, flown three times a week, began in April with A330-200s, which were switched to A350-900s in August. Sichuan Airlines opened a 3X-weekly route between Chengdu and Rome in June, using A330-200s. <br/>