Finnair to resume flights from Turku and Tampere to Helsinki

Finnair will restart flights from Turku and Tampere to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in October, the state-owned airline announced Wednesday, reversing a 2023 decision to suspend the routes due to low passenger numbers and high emissions relative to capacity.

The move has drawn criticism from Turku’s climate director, Risto Veivo, who called short domestic flights “problematic from a climate perspective” and “a less sustainable way to arrange connections.” Veivo noted that while Turku aims for carbon neutrality by 2029, the flights will have limited impact on the city’s own emissions targets.

Finnair’s communications director, Päivyt Tallqvist, told Yle that the resumed routes will operate with fewer daily flights—one morning departure and one evening return—with additional connections via Oulu and Stockholm. The schedule is designed to improve load factors, thereby reducing per-passenger emissions, she said.

Analyst Kaisa Vanha-Perttula of Inderes described the decision as primarily a feed-traffic measure to strengthen connections to Finnair’s international network via Helsinki. She estimated the routes’ overall impact on the airline’s emissions would be minimal, given the small number of ATR aircraft flights involved.