Finnair Will Complement Its Shortest Routes With A Bus Service

As Finnair is relaunching services between Helsinki and the two nearby destinations of Turku and Tampere, it is planning for the launch of an optional bus connection for those connecting onwards. Flights from both destinations take less than 30 minutes. Finnair wants to give customers an opportunity to reduce their CO2 emissions while guaranteeing connections to the booked destination even in the event of a disruption to the bus traffic.

Finnair will complement its shortest haul routes with a new bus connection service. Photo: Finnair

Scheduled flight time 35 minutes

Across Europe, several airlines have replaced their shorter routes with train services. For instance, KLM replaced its flights to Brussels from Schiphol with trains in 2019. More examples are set to follow as Austria and France have forbidden domestic air links where rail connections can be made in under two and a half hours. Finnair is taking a slightly different plan to reduce CO2 emissions from its shortest domestic operations.

As air services resume to destinations Turku (TKU) and Tampere (TMP), where traffic has been dormant since the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic, Finnair will complement its services with a new type of bus connection. This makes sense as the scheduled flight time for both destinations from Helsinki is 35 minutes. In reality, flights often make the journey in ten minutes less.

“Turku and Tampere are an important part of our network. Traveling on these routes focuses on international exchange travel, and we want to continue to offer the best range of connections to customers in the regions,” said Perttu Jolma, Vice President of Traffic Planning at Finnair.

“We want to offer travelers the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint by switching to a bus connection. We guarantee an onward connection to the booked destination even in the event of a possible disruption in the bus connection,” he continued.

Finnair does not want to cut the flights to Turku and Tampere – under 30 minutes – entirely as they serve mainly as connecting flights for international destinations. Photo: Vincenzo Pace – Simple Flying

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Late spring next year

Bus connection tickets will be bookable via the Finnair website from the spring of 2022 and will only be sold together with connecting flight tickets. The airline says it is currently in discussion with bus service providers to form a partnership. Bus stops will be available in both city centers and at the two airports.

According to the carrier’s research, the majority of those departing from Turku and Tampere already opted for non-flight connections to get to Helsinki Airport, even when it offered several flights per day. However, Finnair hopes that a smooth bus connection will discourage those otherwise inclined to travel by car and help reduce smaller-scale emissions as well.

Even when operating the routes several times per day, Finnair says many travelers chose to arrive at Helsinki Airport by other means. Photo: Finnair

Tampere-Pirkalla Airport served a total of 222,390 passengers in 2019. This was a decrease by 2.5% from the year before, specifically due to a reduction in flights. Meanwhile, Turku Airport saw an increase in passenger numbers in the same period, serving over 453,000 people. This was instead a substantial growth of 22% from 2018, which was five times higher than the average at other airports, accounted for by the significant new offerings of direct flights to European destinations.

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