Finnair AY081 lands on the runway of Beijing Daxing International Airport on Monday. Photo: Courtesy of Finnair

The newly-opened Beijing Daxing International Airport (BDIA) received a flight from Finnair Monday morning, showing that the Finland-based carrier is operating in the form of "dual hubs" in Beijing - going through the two major airports of the Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) and BDIA.

Finnair has added three weekly frequencies to BDIA during the winter season of 2019 to 2020. In total, Finnair flies 10 weekly frequencies now.

With the added capacity, Finnair said it  is "proud to satisfy more travel demand" between Beijing and over 100 destinations in Europe, allowing travelers short flight times and convenient transfers via Helsinki. 

Flying through the two airports of Beijing can help expand the carrier's services to more regions in China, Mikko Turtiainen, vice president of global sales at Finnair, said during an interview on Monday. 

Daxing airport was officially put into operation on September 25, 2019. Thus far, it is the largest integrated transport hub in the world, with an area of 1.43 million square meters. Annual passenger traffic is estimated to reach 72 million by 2025, and international flights will account for 30 percent of total air traffic then. 

"We are pleased to welcome more foreign carriers to operate here," Kong Yue, vice president of BDIA, said on Monday.

Finnair has a strong commitment to and long history operating in China for a span of more than 30 years, and was the first foreign airline to announce operations at BDIA. Now, Finnair's non-stop routes to China include those flying to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Hong Kong, with Alipay mobile payment and Wi-Fi services provided onboard. 

During this winter season, 15 carriers are operating at BDIA. In addition to Finnair, 7 other overseas carriers will fly to BDIA , including British Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Royal Moroccan Airlines, Effie Airways and Himalayan Airlines.

Like Finnair, Polish Airlines will serve both airports in Beijing, according to BDIA.