As a result of new travel restrictions by several countries due to the coronavirus pandemic, Finland’s flag carrier Finnair will fly fewer frequencies to European destinations in September than previously planned.

The carrier confirms some domestic destinations are also served at a lower frequency than before. However, Finnair is increasing the number of flights to its popular Lapland destinations Ivalo, Kittilä and Kuusamo in September and will be flying to Ivalo and Kittilä eight times a week and to Kuusamo nine times a week. Rovaniemi continues to be served with 28 weekly flights.

The airline says it is scheduled to fly in September to all European destinations it operated in August but at a lower frequency. The only exceptions are Nice and Turku, and the carrier confirms it will be stopping flights to these destinations for September.

Adjusting to demand

Adjusted frequencies to domestic destinations in September will see Finnair flying to Kuopio once a day and to Vaasa and Mariehamn five times a week. The airline had also planned to start flights to Tampere in September but says these will now be postponed.

Finnair’s VP of market management, Mikko Turtiainen explains the reasons behind the schedule changes: “The corona situation has changed in many countries in recent weeks, which is why several countries have imposed new travel restrictions. There are still no connecting passengers from Asia and the United States to support European flights because of severe travel restrictions in these regions.”

“Also, local demand is more moderate than estimated due to the same restrictions. Therefore, we must adjust flights accordingly. In September, we will operate about 30% of the flights we had in September 2019.”

“On the other hand, Lapland and Kuusamo seem to be of more of interest to domestic passengers than expected, which is why we are adding new flights to these destinations.”

The carrier says it will contact customers booked on cancelled flights and book them on other flights, with the majority of passengers on European flights being accommodated on a new flight on the same day. The updated flight programme can be found on finnair.com.