Finnair has announced that it will reduce the planned number of flights to European destinations in September due to a “lower-than-expected demand”.
This fall in demand comes after countries have imposed new travel restrictions in response to the evolving coronavirus situation.
Finnair will continue to fly to all-but-two European destinations that were flown in August, though at a lower frequency in September. Flights to Nice and Turku, a city located on the southwest coast of Finland, will be cancelled from September.
The carrier has also reduced the frequency of some domestic destinations, flying once daily to Kuopio, and five-times-weekly to Vaasa and Mariehamn, the latter located in the Aland Islands.
The launch of a new route to the Finnish city of Tampere, initially planned for September, will also be postponed.
Commenting on the schedule changes, Mikko Turtiainen, VP of market management at Finnair, said:
“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, the local demand is more moderate than estimated due to the same restrictions. Therefore, we must adjust flights accordingly.”
Despite a fall in demand for international travel, Finnair has seen an increased interest in the domestic destinations of Lapland and the town of Kuusamo.
The carrier will therefore increase flights to eight-times-weekly to Ivalo and Kittila in Lapland, and nine-times-weekly to Kuusamo in September. The carrier’s service to Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, will remain unchanged with 28 weekly flights.
Finnair has said that it will communicate with customers on affected flights, and would re-route them on other flights, with the majority of passengers on European flights accommodated on a same-day service.
