Direct flight route to Lapland planned from Uzbekistan

Kittilä in northern Finland may soon gain a rare direct air link from Central Asia after Uzbekistan’s Centrum Air announced plans to launch seasonal flights from the capital Tashkent.

The route, which would pass through Russian airspace, is scheduled to operate once a week between 26 December and 9 January, with three flights in total. The airline plans to use an Airbus A320neo seating 186 passengers, though the flights are not yet listed on Centrum Air’s website.

Kittilä would become the only Nordic destination reachable from Uzbekistan, according to Flightconnections.com. The airline’s plans have not yet been officially confirmed by Finland’s air navigation service provider Finavia.

Visit Levi’s chief executive Satu Pesonen said the resort’s marketing does not target Uzbekistan, and the new flights are likely to include both tour operator quotas and seats sold openly. Finland requires Uzbekistani citizens to hold a Schengen visa for travel.

Uzbekistan’s direct links to Europe number around a dozen, while flights to destinations across Russia total about 20.