Good-bye KLM, and Finnair welcomes to Fukuoka

The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced that will be discontinued the Amsterdam - Fukuoka route on January 5, 2016. The airline began operating a scheduled service to Fukuoka in April 2013. The load factor was even better immediately after the operation started, and there was also a time that has been increase 3 flights on the route to 4 flights per week.

Although their current load factor on the route is not too bad, however it has been turned into a deficit route because of the weaker yen in recent years.

It is seems to not to be a direct flight between Fukuoka and Europe, but few days later the Finnair announced that will be launching a service connecting the Vantaa Airport in Helsinki and Fukuoka on May 8 of the same year. The airline expands its fourth route to Japan which is currently operating to three major cities in Japan, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

This route will be operated 3 flights per week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It is connecting both cities over 10 hours and using Airbus a330-300 aircraft on the route.

According to one Japanese blog, it is better to go to Helsinki with Finnair than go to Amsterdam with KLM that is currently in service because of its convenient for transit. And Finnair, which are member of the One World in the same airline alliance with Japan Airlines (JAL), it is likely to become code-share flights with JAL.