"Taking the important step ... will allow us to not only serve our current customers even better, but also to lay a platform for further growth in the future, once the aviation market starts to normalise," Ole Orver, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair, said in a statement.

Finnair said the joint venture co-operation would enable significant expansion of codesharing across the networks of both partners, particularly to key points behind Shanghai Pudong and Helsinki.

Finnair, which has relied heavily on Asian traffic in recent years, warned last month it would report a substantial comparable operating loss for 2020 as it cut about 90% of capacity from the start of April due to the new coronavirus.

Until the end of June Finnair's only destination in Asia is Tokyo.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki in Tallinn; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)