In line with its growth strategy, Finnair has announced that it will open a new seasonal route from Helsinki to San Francisco in June 2017, operating three weekly flights between both cities from June 1st to September 30th.

The flights will be operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Thanks to Helsinki’s geographical location, Finnair’s new northern route to San Francisco will offer competitive travel times for customers from Scandinavia, the Baltics, Russia as well as from many European cities.

San Francisco will be Finnair’s fourth US destination, along with New York, Chicago and Miami. The new San Francisco flight will be operated within the Atlantic joint business between Finnair, American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia.

The joint business offers customers additional flight choices, better connections and better pricing on transatlantic routes.

Currently, the four airlines operate over 100 daily return flights between Europe and North America.

“We are very pleased to be taking another step forward in the growth of our airline as San Francisco is an exciting new destination for all of our customers,” says Juha Järvinen, chief commercial officer, Finnair.

“In the same way as when Finnair flies to Asia, the northern position of our Helsinki hub will also present a quick alternative for our connecting European customers flying to North America’s West Coast.”

Finnair will also add capacity to Spain, by opening a new route to Alicante with up to four weekly flights between March 26th and October 27th.

In addition, Finnair will also increase its flights to Malaga with two weekly flights between June and July, increasing frequencies to a total of eleven weekly flights.

Last month, Finnair also announced new routes to Ibiza and Menorca for the summer 2017 season.