Finavia, the Finnish airport operator, has announced an impressive expansion for the 2023–2024 winter season, opening 24 new routes across Europe. This development will allow direct flights from Finland to over 130 global destinations during the winter months.
Celebrations are underway across Finland as numerous new international connections begin.
The global aviation winter season, kicking off on Sunday, October 29, sees the launch of these new routes at Finavia’s airports.
"Continuous collaboration with airlines and regional partners ensures that our connections remain comprehensive and Finland accessible. The upcoming winter season reflects our long-term efforts. Our airports will connect Finland to over 130 destinations worldwide," says Petri Vuori, Head of Route Development at Finavia.
Record Season Expected for Lapland
Lapland's airports, operated by Finavia, are gearing up for a record season with the opening of 18 new routes from Europe. This winter, there will be 35 direct international routes to Lapland, with airlines offering 240,000 additional passenger seats (+16% compared to the previous winter), about 150,000 of which are allocated to Rovaniemi Airport.
Ryanair is set to start flights from Liverpool and Milan to Rovaniemi in October-November. EasyJet will open routes in December to Santa Claus's hometown from five different cities: Edinburgh, Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Naples.
December 2 marks a special day with the launch of routes from four different airlines. Iberia Airlines from Madrid, Vueling from Barcelona, Finnair from Tromsø, and Austrian Airlines from Vienna will commence their services. Eurowings will also inaugurate a route from Rovaniemi to Berlin in January 2024.
Ryanair resumes flights to Rovaniemi from Dublin, London Stansted, and Brussels Charleroi. EasyJet continues its services to London Gatwick, Bristol, Manchester, and Milan. Additionally, KLM will keep its Amsterdam route from Rovaniemi, Air France from Paris, Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, and Eurowings from Düsseldorf.
Starting in November, EasyJet introduces two new routes to Kittilä from Manchester and London Gatwick. Return routes to Kittilä include flights from Paris by Air France, Düsseldorf by Eurowings, Riga by Air Baltic, and Munich by Lufthansa.
Eurowings will begin holiday season flights from both Ivalo and Kuusamo airports to Düsseldorf. Swiss airline Edelweiss Air will also start flying to Ivalo and Kuusamo from Zurich beginning February 2024. Lufthansa returns to both destinations from Frankfurt.
Finnair is set to increase flights from Helsinki-Vantaa to all Lapland airports operated by Finavia, with Norwegian also operating flights from Helsinki-Vantaa to Rovaniemi.
"The upcoming winter tourist season in Lapland is expected to break records. We're now focusing more intently on developing the summer season in Lapland and its potential benefits to the region," continues Vuori.
Winter's Extensive Route Offerings Beyond Lapland
Air Baltic will introduce four new destinations from Tampere-Pirkkala Airport between October and December: Tenerife and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Kittilä (the airline's first domestic Finnish destination), and daily flights to Tallinn. The airline also continues its existing flights to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Malaga, and Riga.
Lufthansa is set to open a long-awaited route from Oulu to Munich in December, connecting to the heart of Central Europe. SAS will start flying from Helsinki-Vantaa to Oslo at the beginning of the winter season. Vueling is also returning at the end of October with three weekly flights from Helsinki-Vantaa to Barcelona.
Besides extensive European connections, Helsinki-Vantaa offers direct flights to several long-haul destinations. Finnair flies to North America, the Middle East, and Asia, while Japan Airlines services Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Juneyao Airlines flies to Zhengzhou and Shanghai in China.
HT
