Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records
HEL→JFK
Helsinki to New York
- Flights
- 694 both ways
- Carriers
- 1
- Distance
- 4,105 mi
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
No public record scores Helsinki-Vantaa to John F. Kennedy International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 694 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, flown by Finnair. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 77.6% of all departures from Helsinki-Vantaa leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 77.5% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 74.3% of JFK's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.
On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Helsinki-Vantaa ranks 17th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.
Key figures
Flights
694
Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)
Carriers
1
Finnair
HEL departures on time
77.6%
All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)
JFK domestic on time
74.3%
US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures
Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 0.3 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Helsinki-Vantaa so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from JFK ran a little over an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 3.98% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.
Carrier by carrier
Who flies HEL to JFK
Finnair is the only carrier the DOT report shows on HEL to JFK, with 694 flights and an average of 216 passengers aboard each. A single-carrier route gives a delayed passenger no same-day alternative on the same ticket, which is worth knowing before booking a tight onward connection.
| Airline | Flights | Share | Per month | Passengers / flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finnair | 694 | 100% | 58 | 216 |
DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.
Across the year
How often HEL to JFK flies through the year
The DOT's international report puts 62 flights on the pair in August 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 48 in February 2026, the thinnest. The schedule is close to flat through the year, which usually means business traffic rather than holiday demand underwrites it.
Flights per month, both directions
- July 202558
- August 202562
- September 202558
- October 202554
- November 202554
- December 202560
- January 202656
- February 202648
- March 202662
- April 202660
- May 202662
- June 202660
The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 694 between HEL and JFK from July 2025 to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, carrying 149,589 passengers. That makes it the busiest of 5 US routes from Helsinki-Vantaa and the 22nd busiest of 34 European routes into JFK.
The departure airport
How Helsinki-Vantaa is running
EUROCONTROL's figures for Helsinki-Vantaa as a whole, every airline and every destination: 77.6% of departures and 77.5% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 97.3% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 75.0% for departures, 3 points worse than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 0.3 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.0 over the last week.
| Window | Departures on time | Arrivals on time | Schedules operated | ATFM delay / arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday (21 October 2026) | 83.3% | 83.3% | 96.7% | 0.0 min |
| Last 7 days | 75.0% | 74.6% | 97.9% | 0.0 min |
| Year to date | 77.6% | 77.5% | 97.3% | 0.3 min |
Every US route from Helsinki-Vantaa, and its full punctuality record
The arrival airport
Landing at John F. Kennedy International
John F. Kennedy International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 74.3% of its 102,713 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running a little over an hour late, and 3.98% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at JFK reaches a flight from HEL just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.
Domestic on time
74.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)
Avg delay
77 min
Delayed domestic flights only
Cancelled
3.98%
Domestic departures
102,713
Last twelve months
John F. Kennedy International (JFK) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month
Your rights
EC 261/2004 on HEL to JFK
Every flight that departs Helsinki-Vantaa falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at John F. Kennedy International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from JFK is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 4,105 miles, 6,605 km, which puts it in the top distance band.
Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →
What to do with this
Booking HEL to JFK
There is no grade to give HEL to JFK without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about one departure a day in each direction, a single carrier, a departure airport that gets 78% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 74% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at JFK; immigration comes before the connecting flight.
Common questions
HEL to JFK questions
How often are HEL to JFK flights delayed?
No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (77.6% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and JFK's domestic record in the DOT data (74.3% on time).
Which airlines fly HEL to JFK?
Finnair. Finnair accounted for 100% of the 694 flights the DOT counted on the pair.
Can I claim compensation for a delayed HEL to JFK flight?
Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Helsinki-Vantaa are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from JFK is covered only on an EU carrier.
How many flights a day are there from HEL to JFK?
About one departure a day in each direction: the DOT counted 694 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 62 in August 2025 and falling to 48 in February 2026.
Related
Where to go next
- Helsinki-Vantaa (HEL): every US route
- John F. Kennedy International (JFK) delay statistics
- HEL to DFW, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)662 flights
- HEL to LAX, Los Angeles (LAX)306 flights
- HEL to ORD, Chicago (ORD)270 flights
- HEL to MIA, Miami (MIA)100 flights
- LHR to JFK, from London14,572 flights
- CDG to JFK, from Paris7,055 flights
- FCO to JFK, from Rome3,990 flights
- FRA to JFK, from Frankfurt3,168 flights
- Every Europe-to-US route and airport
Finland publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.
Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.