Finavia, the state-owned company that operates Finland’s network of airports, announced on 8 October 2026 that airlines will open 31 completely new international routes to and from Finland this coming winter season. The expansion—detailed in a press release published at 11:00 local time—will lift the total number of scheduled international connections available from Finavia airports to 163, serving 103 overseas destinations. Lapland is the chief beneficiary. Rovaniemi alone will gain four new services (London Gatwick, Newcastle, Munich and Prague), taking the Santa-town’s tally to 37 winter routes and giving corporate travellers and tour operators unprecedented non-stop access to Finland’s northern growth centre. Kittilä adds Amsterdam, Brussels, Liverpool and London Luton, while Kuusamo secures first-ever links to Berlin, London Gatwick and Riga plus extra frequencies from Hamburg and Manchester. Discover Airlines will connect Ivalo with Munich, and Brussels Airlines will inaugurate service to Kemi-Tornio, underscoring rising confidence in secondary Finnish airports. Helsinki Airport, meanwhile, cements its role as a long-haul hub between Europe and Asia-Pacific. Emirates (daily Dubai) and Qatar Airways (daily Doha) will operate their first full winter seasons from the capital, while Finnair adds Melbourne—the carrier’s first Australian city—together with new links to Luxembourg, Stavanger, Turin and Umeå. On the domestic side, Finnair is restoring ‘triangle flights’ that reconnect Turku and Tampere directly to Helsinki to facilitate smoother onward connections for regional business communities. Finavia’s Senior Vice-President for Route Development, Petri Vuori, said the growth demonstrates airlines’ faith in Finnish demand and will “further strengthen the country’s accessibility for trade, investment and tourism.” For multinational companies, the additions reduce travel times to regional production sites and expand options for winter incentive trips. For export-oriented SMEs, a denser network supports faster customer visits and more reliable supply-chain logistics, particularly in sectors such as high-tech mining, clean energy and seasonal tourism. Practically, travellers should note that the IATA winter season runs from 25 October 2026 to 27 March 2027. Many of the new flights operate only one or two days a week, so early booking remains advisable. Finavia encourages companies to register for its route newsletter to monitor late-season changes, and reminds passengers that the new Entry/Exit System (EES) kiosks at Helsinki Airport require travellers from non-EU countries to budget extra time for biometric registration until processes stabilise.
Source: Finavia
