Report: Finnair A350 Business Class to Asia

On arrival at Helsinki, with a couple of hours to spare in transit, the Finnair Lounge is an excellent place to while away an hour or so, enjoying some fine food and drink. The only down side here is that there are no windows at all, unlike many other lounges.

Finnair Lounge sign at Helsinki Airport

Despite its quite large size, there is plenty of space and it's fairly quiet.

A range of draft beers is on offer in the lounge.

A full selection of wine is available too, including red wines in the fridge.

Finnair flight AY85 at the gate at Helsinki, about to depart to Beijing, one of seven destinations in China, and over 20 in the Asia region.

A warm welcome awaits on boarding Finnair's A350

Two attendants service the Business Class Cabin, with seating for 32 on this flight, but up to 46 on others. This particular flight had around 20 passengers. Unlike most of Finnair's longhaul  flights, the services to Singapore and Hong Kong are made up of crews local to those regions. Our flight back from Hong Kong was made up of cabin crew from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.

Finnair's A350s are configured in a 1-2-1 arrangement up front. Every seat is an aisle or window...or both!

The bathroom has some nice touches, with flowers and a window, which makes it incredibly bright. It's also noticeably more roomy than down the back.

Passengers are able to stretch out fully with a shelf (if required) under the fold-out TV screen

The view out of seat 1A onto Helsinki Airport prior to departure shows just how quiet Helsinki Airport is, and therefore delay-free, ideal for connections.

Each business class seat has a recline control panel, allowing lie flat and a myriad of other ways of getting comfortable.

Enjoying the space, quiet and amenities of business class. The A350 is also pressurized differently to most airliners apart from the Boeing 787, leaving you less jetlagged. Certainly to and from the Far East, with some decent sleep garnered, I didn't feel tired on arrival at either end.

The look-down outside cameras are a nice feature, and here on the outbound flight to Beijing, you can see the engine trails and the special livery on this particular A350.

Another look-down view over clearer skies.

Passengers in business class are presented with two menus, one each for food and wine.

Finnair business Class dinner menu

Finnair business class breakfast menu.

Finnair business class dinner

Finnair business class drinks service

In-flight map showing some of Finnair's Asian destinations

Finnair A350 in-flight map showing the direct route from Helsinki over Russia to China.

Finnair's business class breakfast includes a cooked meal as well as a cold continental selection.

The author flew back from Hong Kong on this A350, seen landing earlier in the day at Chep Lap Kok Airport.

Another popular destination is Tokyo-Narita, with up to two flights a day from Helsinki.

Our return flight was in economy, where the service and food were both very pleasant, as was the legroom and general comfort. A nice touch when approaching Finland on the way home was the introduction of cabin lighting representing the aurora borealis (northern lights).

One last look at the in-flight map before arrival in Finland.