Emirates will launch new daily direct flights between Dubai and Finnish capital Helsinki on 1 October. The service will be the only nonstop year-round one between Finland and the United Arab Emirates, says the carrier. An Airbus A350 fitted with a premium-economy cabin will be deployed on the route. Emirates adds that the schedule has been optimised for seamless connections to major destinations across Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. "There is already strong demand between Helsinki and Dubai... Introducing direct, year-round connectivity is a natural next step," states the Middle Eastern carrier's operations chief Adnan Kazim. "Finland offers a unique combination of innovation, nature, and culture, unlocking new opportunities for tourism and trade." Cirium data shows that Oneworld carrier Finnair operates a daily direct link between Dubai and Helsinki during the winter season.

Air India and Saudia will start a reciprocal codeshare arrangement in February that will allow for a limited number of connections on each carriers' domestic networks. Air India states that under the deal, its passengers travelling to Jeddah or Riyadh will be able to access connecting services to Dammam, Abha, Gassim, Gizan, Madinah, and Taif. It adds that connections to " complementary international destinations" will be added later in the year. Schedules data shows that the carrier operates 28 weekly services to Jeddah and Riyadh from Mumbai and Delhi. In return, Saudia passengers will be able to access code shared services from Mumbai and Delhi to destinations including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, and Jaipur. Another 15 destinations will be available as an interline connection. Saudia operates 12 flights each week to Mumbai and Delhi, respectively. "The codeshare agreement with Air India marks a strategic step forward, given both airlines’ long histories and their shared commitment to increasing connectivity within their home markets and between their countries, while offering guests broader access to more destinations through simplified travel procedures that elevate the overall travel experience," says Saudia Group director general Ibrahim Al-Omar.

The number of European passengers travelling to the USA continued to fall back through 2025, although this was partially compensated by strong outbound demand from the country. Data from the US Department for Commerce shows that 15.3 million European passengers arrived into the USA in 2025, down 3.1% from 2024 and 17% from 2019. This could reflect heightened trade and political disruption. Meanwhile, 23.3 million US citizens departed for Europe last year, a figure up 5% from 2024 and 22% from 2019. That means that whereas in 2019 the number of people visiting the USA from Europe broadly equalled those travelling in the other direction, at around 19 million, six years later the number of US travellers taking transatlantic trips was around 50% higher. The data shows some fluctuation across the year. Travel by Europeans to the USA was actually 8% higher in April compared with a year earlier, having been 14% lower in March. This could reflect the change in Easter's timing. For US travellers, the number of trips to Europe was particularly strong though the late summer and autumn: 6.4% higher in July and 6.8% in October. European carriers have noted some weakness in transatlantic demand in recent months, although premium travel, a key driver of profitability, has held up. Speaking in October, IAG chief executive Luis Gallego said his carriers had seen "lots of instability" following the announcement of tariffs by the USA in April, and that it was "difficult to see a trend" and "difficult to say" how this would change in 2026. Premium cabin sales remained "very strong", he added. Other airlines, notably Air France-KLM and Finnair, have expressed similar sentiments. US carriers, in contrast, have highlighted ongoing strong demand to Europe, and plan to increase their capacity levels for summer 2026. "Customers continue to tell us that Europe is where they want to go each summer," American Airlines said last summer as it announced a series of new routes to the continent. Reduced recorded demand from Europe to the USA matches with Cirium's own bookings data, which that shows that sales through autumn 2025 were significantly below those of a year earlier. Ticket sales from London to New York for September travel were down 11-14% in July, for example. Paris's figure was down 5%. There were similar declines to other US destinations. Early data for 2026 shows this trend continuing into the new year. Tickets bought in the week to 7 January for June and July travel from London to New York were 5% lower this year than last year. For Paris to New York, the decline was around 18%.