Finnair's Santa Express offers almost 100 non-stop flights from Europe to Lapland

Finnair is expected to fly some 12 000 tourists on its non-stop scheduled flights to Lapland from four European destinations this winter season. A total of 86 non-stop services will be flown from Zurich, Paris, Amsterdam and Milan to Kittilä, Ivalo, Kuusamo and Rovaniemi in Lapland.

The first non-stop Finnair flights from Europe to Lapland this winter will operate on December 5 from Milan to Rovaniemi. On the basis of last year's experiences, the concept of the flights has been improved. The season has been extended and the number of flights increased. There are a total of six routes from four destinations, and plans are already underway for the 2004/2005 winter season.

"These routes are a part of our systematic, long-term strategy for promoting travel to Lapland and improving our own product in co-operation with important European travel partners like Nouvelles Frontieres, Bennett, Kontiki Saga Reisen, Sei Viaggi, Giver and Voigt Travel," says Vice President Hannu Sundberg from Finnair Marketing Division.

"Direct, non-stop flights considerably decrease flight times between Europe and Lapland. The flights have been linked with the rest of our scheduled traffic, which makes them efficient from a production sense also. The number of seats sold so far varies by the market, but approximately 80-85% of capacity has been sold and sales are still ongoing," Sundberg says.

The Friday afternoon flight from Milan brings tourists from Southern Europe as well, unlike last year when all flights originated from Central Europe. The schedule starts on December 5 with weekly flights from Milan to Rovaniemi and continues on December 13 with weekly flights from Zurich to Kittilä. The Zurich route is operated on Saturdays.

Paris will see flights to three different destinations in Lapland, Rovaniemi, Ivalo and Kittilä. Routes to Ivalo and Kittilä are operated weekly on Sundays. Rovaniemi is operated once a week on Saturdays. The flights begin on December 20 and continue until the end of March.

The Dutch now also have a connection to Lapland. Finnair operates the direct, non-stop flight from Amsterdam to Kuusamo. The route is operated once a week on Sundays from January 18 to March 26, 2004.