Five new direct flight routes from Europe to Kuusamo to bring 12,000 tourists

Latvian airline airBaltic will launch five new direct flight routes from Kuusamo to European cities for the 2026–2027 winter season, bringing an estimated 11,840 international tourists to the Ruka-Kuusamo region, reports Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

The new routes will connect Kuusamo with London, Manchester, Berlin, Hamburg, and Riga between December 2026 and March 2027. AirBaltic will station one aircraft at Kuusamo Airport during the peak winter months, enabling multiple direct connections to European destinations, including weekend flights.

Ruka-Kuusamo Tourism CEO Janne-Juhani Haarma noted that the region already sees around one million overnight stays annually, with approximately 300,000 visitors to Ruka each year. Kuusamo currently has direct flights from Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, and Zurich.