On Saturday morning, the airline S7 commenced traffic to Moscow, and Finnair began running flights to the new Gazipasa airport in Alanya, Turkey.
"Through S7, the frequency of Moscow traffic will increase to a substantial extent. Even better schedules are now available to passengers, and they have more choice between airlines", says Joni Sundelin, director of Finavia.
The improvement of Moscow connections will also strengthen the position of Helsinki Airport as an international transit airport. S7 is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, and this provides Russian passengers with a comprehensive route network via Helsinki to destinations all around the world.
In addition to Moscow, Helsinki Airport has direct route connections to three other city destinations in Russia: St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Cherepovets. Finnair and Aeroflot provide daily connections to Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. S7 provides daily connections to Domodevodo Airport in Moscow.
The introduction of the Alanya route means that it is easier for leisure travellers, in particular, to fly there. In the summer season, Finnair will also operate flights to Antalya. This means that the total number of direct flights to Turkey in the summer season will be eight per week.
"The flight selection and schedules of Helsinki Airport have improved nicely in the last few years. Five new routes to global destinations were introduced last year. This year, already four new destinations have been introduced in the first four months", says Sundelin.
In addition to new route destinations, airlines have increased the number of flights they operate, and new companies have also been introduced to the Finnish market.
"For passengers, it is also important that the frequencies increase. Last year, flights were added to the schedules of 11 destinations, and new airlines started to operate on familiar routes.
The Russian S7 airline provides the Moscow route with an Airbus A319. Arrival in Helsinki is at 12:05 pm and departure back to Moscow is at 12:45 pm.
Finnair provides connections to Alanya with an Airbus 320 three times per week: on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
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