Toronto-based passengers could have one other choice to get to Europe subsequent 12 months, as Finnair is about to renew its Helsinki–Toronto service after an 11-year hiatus.
When you’ll have to attend till 2026 to benefit from this route, it marks one other oneworld service servicing a key Canadian hub, and opens up choices for award journey to Europe and past.
Finnair Launches Helsinki–Toronto Flights
Helsinki-based Finnair is about to renew service to Toronto Pearson (YYZ) subsequent 12 months, in what’s going to turn out to be the service’s seventh North American vacation spot and sole Canadian route.
Finnair final operated this route in October 2015, in accordance with knowledge from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
The Helsinki–Toronto route is about to renew on Might 4, 2026, and can run thrice-weekly by to August 29, 2026.
In both course, the flight is scheduled to function on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday, with the next flight instances:
- AY031, departing Helsinki (HEL) at 4:50pm and arriving at Toronto Pearson (YYZ) at 6:35pm
- AY032 , departing Toronto Pearson (YYZ) at 11:40pm and arriving in Helsinki at 2:45pm the following day
Westbound from Helsinki, the flight is about to run eight hours 45 minutes, and eastbound from Toronto, it’s set to run eight hours 5 minutes.
Finnair will function a three-cabin Airbus A330-300 on this route, that includes financial system, premium financial system, and enterprise class cabins.
The enterprise class cabin characteristic Finnair’s one-of-a-kind enterprise class seats, which don’t recline however relatively morph right into a lie-flat seat by transferring a cushion.
The flights are loaded into Finnair’s schedule, and may be booked with money and (hopefully quickly) factors.
Reserving Finnair’s Helsinki–Toronto Route
If you happen to’re headed to Finland or past, you’ll definitely wish to hold a watch out for award availability on this route.
As a reminder, Finnair is one in every of a handful of airways that makes use of Avios as its factors forex. When you can’t straight entry Finnair Plus from any Canadian transferable factors currencies, you can entry The British Airways Membership (which additionally makes use of Avios as its factors forex), after which convert your British Airways Avios into Finnair Avios from throughout the Avios ecosystem.
On the time of writing, there weren’t any award seats out there on this route, which most likely means they haven’t been added to the stock simply but.
Nonetheless, we are able to anticipate pricing to be much like that on Finnair’s Chicago route (with anticipated variations in taxes and charges), with pricing in numerous courses of service as follows:
- Economic system: 30,000 Avios + ~$100 (CAD) taxes and charges
- Premium financial system: 43,500 Avios + ~$150 (CAD) taxes and charges
- Enterprise class: 62,500 Avios + ~$200 (CAD) taxes and charges
When you may additionally e-book the identical flight with British Airways Avios for a similar value in factors, you’ll should fork out considerably extra in taxes and charges (practically $1,500 (CAD) for enterprise class), which erodes lots of the worth out of your redemption. Due to this fact, remember to take the straightforward additional step of changing your British Airways Avios into Finnair Avios to avoid wasting a tidy sum of money.
Avios are straightforward to return by in Canada, since you possibly can convert RBC Avion factors and American Categorical Membership Rewards factors at a 1:1 ratio, or you possibly can earn them straight on the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite†.
Credit score Playing cards for Incomes Avios
| Credit score Card | Finest Provide | Worth | |
|---|---|---|---|
130,000 MR factors $799 annual charge |
130,000 MR factors | $1,794 |
Apply Now |
70,000 MR factors $250 annual charge |
70,000 MR factors | $1,676 |
Apply Now |
100,000 MR factors $799 annual charge |
100,000 MR factors | $1,141 |
Apply Now |
55,000 RBC Avion factors† $120 annual charge |
55,000 RBC Avion factors† | $1,080 |
Apply Now |
55,000 RBC Avion factors† $120 annual charge |
55,000 RBC Avion factors† | $1,080 |
Apply Now |
60,000 Avios† $165 annual charge |
60,000 Avios† | $899 |
Apply Now |
40,000 MR factors $199 annual charge |
40,000 MR factors | $846 |
Apply Now |
As much as 70,000 RBC Avion factors† $399 annual charge |
As much as 70,000 RBC Avion factors† | $826 |
Apply Now |
35,000 RBC Avion factors $175 annual charge |
35,000 RBC Avion factors | $700 |
Apply Now |
35,000 RBC Avion factors $120 annual charge |
35,000 RBC Avion factors | $580 |
Apply Now |
15,000 MR factors $156 annual charge |
15,000 MR factors | $372 |
Apply Now |
10,000 MR factors $0 annual charge |
10,000 MR factors | $242 |
Apply Now |
Understand that there’s a 30% switch bonus from RBC Avion to The British Airways Membership by to July 11, 2025. If you will discover award availability on this route, then you would leverage the switch bonus to successfully scale back the fee in factors by 30%, which is a superb deal.
A fast seek for money fares on the Finnair web site reveals the next pattern round-trip costs (originating from Toronto):
- Economic system: ~$1,700 (CAD)
- Premium financial system: ~$4,966 (CAD)
- Enterprise class: ~$4,000 (CAD)
It’s all the time nice when enterprise class is cheaper than decrease courses of service.
Conclusion
After an 11-year hiatus, Finnair is making a return to Toronto. As of Might 4, 2026, the Helsinki-based service will function thrice-weekly flights to Toronto, marking its sole Canadian route.
Toronto has been lucky to obtain new routes from quite a lot of carriers in the previous few years, and hopefully this pattern continues.
If you happen to’ve bought your eye on Finland or past, remember to hold a watch out for award availability within the close to future after which safe a snug flight throughout the Atlantic with Finnair.
