There will be a celebration at Helsinki Airport on Thursday 19 November, as Norwegian commences daily flights to Dubai. The new route will prepare Helsinki Airport for next year, when new records will again be set.
"We are really looking forward to 2016, when Helsinki Airport will have its highest ever number of long-haul flights to Asia, the Middle East and North America. There will be more than one hundred weekly long-haul flights, of which 85 are bound to Asia and 15 to the United States. The expansion in the route selection is an example of our airport's important role as the hub of Northern Europe's Asian flights, and as an effective transit airport", says Ville Haapasaari, director of Helsinki Airport.
In 2016, the total number of Asian destinations will be as much as 17. In the summer season, the airport will have new Finnair routes to Guangzhou in China and to Fukuoka in Japan.
Next summer, Helsinki Airport will be the largest airport in Europe in regard to the number of routes to Japan: Helsinki will offer routes to Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. In regard to the number of all Asian flights, Helsinki Airport is the fifth largest airport in Europe.
Total of 21 long-haul routes from Helsinki Airport in 2016
Asia: Bangkok, Chongqing, Delhi, Fukuoka (new in 2016), Guangzhou (new in 2016), Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Krabi, Osaka, Peking, Phuket, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Xian
Middle East: Dubai
North America: Miami, New York, Chicago
In addition to regular direct flights, Helsinki Airport has charter flights to long-haul destinations.
New airline commences flights at Helsinki Airport
Czech Airlines will again operate at Helsinki Airport. The airline will commence flights between Helsinki Airport and Prague in March 2016.
"Czech Airlines will return to Helsinki Airport after a break of a few years. Finavia is very happy that we will get more connections to European destinations, too. Other companies will also provide more flights to Europe", says Haapasaari.
Selected Helsinki Airport flight route news
Norwegian will commence daily flights from Helsinki Airport to Dubai on 19 November. Dubai is a popular winter destination, and it is evident why that is the case: the sun is shining and the time difference is only two hours. Norwegian's flights to Dubai will depart daily from Helsinki Airport at 5:55 pm and arrive back in Helsinki is at 8:55 am. Finnair will also provide flights to Dubai six times per week in the winter season.
For the summer period 2016, Finnair will offer flights to Fukuoka in Japan and Guangzhou in China. Flights to Fukuoka in southern Japan will operate three times a week in the summer of 2016. Flights from Helsinki to Guangzhou will be provided four times per week.
Miami will be a new summer destination for Finnair in April 2016, after which Finnair will provide the Miami route all year round three times per week: on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays.
Chicago will continue to be Finnair's summer destination in 2016, and flights will operate from Helsinki Airport five times a week: on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
After a five-year break, Czech Airlines will commence flights from Helsinki Airport to Prague. As of April, the route will be provided every day.
Finnair will become the first airline to introduce an international connection to Longyearbyen in Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic. The connection to this archipelago destination in the northern Arctic Ocean will be provided from June to August, three times a week.
Finnair will introduce three weekly flights to Edinburgh in the summer. In addition, Finnair will commence daily flights to Billund in Denmark, which will operate all year round. Finnair will also commence flights to Pula, located by the Adriatic Sea in Croatia, twice a week in high summer.
The year 2020 is the aim of Finavia’s development programme
Having an internationally competitive airport is vital considering the whole of Finland, and it maintains good flight connections from Finland to different parts of the world.
The objective of Finavia's EUR 900 million development programme is to strengthen the position of Helsinki Airport among international airports and as an important hub between Europe and Asia.
As a result of the expansion, Helsinki Airport will be capable of serving 20 million passengers in 2020.
