24-Hour Flights: Finnair's Top 11 Ultra-Long-Haul Routes Revealed

Published Oct 3, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for history and regional aviation, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft. He has visited OEM facilities as far and wide as Bristol, Toulouse, and Seattle, and recently enjoyed the milestone of flying his 150th sector as a passenger. Based in Norfolk, UK. Given its location in northeastern Europe, Finnair has long been an important airline for serving the continent's long-haul routes to and from destinations in eastern Asia. This has been complicated in recent years amid Russian airspace closures, but, even today, it retains a presence in Asia that isn't just strong, but growing. As a result, it operates multiple ultra-long-haul routes. Cirium, an aviation analytics company, lists Finnair's 11 longest routes operating between now and the end of the year, ranked by scheduled block time. Of these, 10 are nonstop services, while the 11th is its long-awaited one-stop route from Helsinki Airport (HEL) to Melbourne via Bangkok. Nonstop Odysseys Credit: aviationisa | Shutterstock Finnair's longest nonstop route is the long corridor from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) back to its main hub in Helsinki. These flights top out at a block time of 14 hours and 15 minutes, putting them just ahead of Hong Kong to Helsinki (14 hours and 10 minutes). Seoul to Helsinki ranks fourth, clocking in at a maximum of 14 hours and 50 minutes. All of these flights use the Airbus A350-900, with most operating daily. Shanghai is the exception, with just two flights a week. Tokyo's Narita Airport (NRT) and Haneda Airport (HND) rank joint fifth, with a maximum travel time of 13 hours and 25 minutes from Helsinki to each. Finnair recently announced that it will add a second daily Narita flight. Christine Rovelli, the carrier's CRO, commented on the growth of its network. "We have been steadily increasing our capacity to Japan, and the additional Narita frequencies will allow us to offer our customers greater choice and even more convenient connections to Tokyo." The Best Of The Rest Credit: InsectWorld | Shutterstock Finnair's four remaining longest nonstop routes in the top 10 also all use the Airbus A350-900. According to ch-aviation, the Finnish flag carrier and oneworld member presently has a grand total of 18 of these modern widebody jets at its disposal (aged 8.6 years on average), with one more on order. The aircraft have 278 or 321 seats across three classes. The next two routes on the list are both from Japanese cities back to Helsinki. Nagoya is marginally farther, at 13 hours and 10 minutes, compared to 13 hours and five minutes from Osaka back to Finland's capital. In the winter, Osaka's frequency will drop to three flights a week before rising to daily, while Nagoya is a new route, with four flights a week from late May. Loading map… Drag to explore Rounding out the top 10 are a pair of Helsinki-bound corridors that link the Finnish capital city with leisure destinations in Thailand. Over the coming months, flights from Phuket to Helsinki will take up to 13 hours, compared to 12 hours and 50 minutes on the route from Krabi (KBV), which resumes in November. Phuket's frequency peaks at daily over the winter, compared with twice-weekly service to Krabi. Finnair's Forthcoming One-Stop Australian Route In October, Finnair will begin operations on a one-stop route from Helsinki Vantaa Airport to Melbourne, Australia, via Bangkok, Thailand. In doing so, it will become the third European airline operating direct flights to Australia, alongside British Airways from London Heathrow Airport and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. The first flight will depart on October 25, running daily with the A350. The return leg from Melbourne back to Helsinki via Bangkok is the longer of the two sectors, clocking in at a whopping 23 hours and 30 minutes from one end to the other. Of that time, you'll spend just an hour and 45 minutes on the ground in Thailand, with 21 hours and 45 minutes in the air across the two flights. It will be interesting to see how well this route performs over the long term.