Finnair and Golden Air open a new route to Stockholm Skavsta Airport

Finnair and its Swedish partner Golden Air are starting flights from Helsinki to Skavsta Airport in Stockholm at the end of October. The flights are operated four times a day on weekdays and twice daily on weekends on Golden Air 50 seat Saab 2000 aircraft. The new route complements Finnair's service between Sweden and Finland.

Stockholm Skavsta Airport is located in Nyköping, approximately 100 kilometres south of Stockholm city centre. The new route clearly shortens total travel time between Helsinki and cities located south of Stockholm, such as Linköping, Norrköping and Södertälje. Skavsta Airport is considerably closer to these cities than Stockholm's main airport Arlanda, which is located to the north of the city. In addition, there are fast, uncongested motorway connections between Skavsta and the southern cities.

Skavsta Airport it completely uncongested and there are no traffic restrictions imposed by air traffic control. The terminal was constructed two years ago and it is spacious and modern, so passenger services on the ground are also very fast.

Stockholm Skavsta Airport serves an area with over 600 000 inhabitants for whom Skavsta is quicker to reach than Arlanda. There are several companies operating in the area with connections to Finland. In addition, many of the inhabitants in the region are of Finnish origin.

The new flights offer Swedish passengers a fast connection via Helsinki to Finnair's domestic destinations and long haul destinations, which include Bangkok, Beijing, Singapore, Tokio and, starting February 2002, Hong Kong.

Finnair continues to operate its 12 daily flights between Helsinki and Arlanda. When measured in the frequency of flights between Helsinki and Stockholm,

Finnair has become the clear market leader on this route. With the addition of the service to Stockholm Skavsta, Finnair has a total of 16 daily flights between Helsinki and Stockholm.

The opening of the new route is part of Finnair's strategy, despite tough times, to continue to find new business opportunities and improve its route network profitability through effective feeder service.