Finnair becomes first non-Chinese airline in the world to collaborate with Chinese JD.com

Finnair is starting start a collaboration with JD.com, also known as Jingdong, one of the leading e-commerce companies in China.

Finnair will be the first non-Chinese airline to open a flagship store for online flight bookings on the JD Travel platform, in the beginning of 2018. The collaboration also includes promotions and loyalty member partnerships.

As a travel service platform for one of China´s largest online retailers, JD Travel benefits from JD.com’s 258.3 million customer base. Through partnering with Finnair, JD Travel will deepen its foothold in the international travel market.

JD.com, Inc., also known as Jingdong and formerly called 360buy, is a Chinese e-commerce company headquartered in Beijing. It is one of the two largest B2C online retailers in China by transaction volume and revenue, a member of the Fortune Global 500 and a major competitor to Alibaba-run Tmall.

Mr. Juha Järvinen, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Finnair:

“This collaboration is an important milestone for Finnair and shows our commitment to offer more choices and localized services for our Chinese customers. As part of this collaboration, loyalty members will also be able to exchange points between Finnair Plus and JD Travel.”

Mr. Feng Sun, General Manager of JD Travel:

“We are pleased to work with Finnair, an internationally respected name in international air travel, to bring more high-quality travel options to our international-minded customers. We believe that this partnership will help Finnair connect with our more than a quarter of a billion consumers, opening up a significant new market.”

Over the past decade, Finnair has placed a strong strategic focus on the Chinese market and is fast becoming one of the biggest and most preferred European carriers operating between Europe and China. The opening of the Nanjing route in May 2018 will increase Finnair’s growing footprint in Northeast Asia, with the Finnish carrier flying to seven destinations in Greater China during the 2018 summer season.

Last month, Finnair launched Finn, its first chatbot powered by artificial intelligence.

N.B. Image credit: finnair.com

About Finnair

Finnair is the largest airline in Finland. It’s main hub is Helsinki Airport.

Routes: Finnair flies between Asia, Europe and North America with an emphasis on fast connections via Helsinki, and connecting 19 cities in Asia and 7 cities in North America with more than 100 destinations in Europe.

Fleet: Currently 81 aircraft, comprising: