The Tartu City Government and Finnair debuted Finnair’s new flight timetable at the Tartu Airport, which allows one to fly from Tartu to Helsinki, early in the morning, and from Helsinki to Tartu, late at night. New flight times will begin on 28 April.
According to Urmas Klaas, Mayor of Tartu, the new flight times were reached through three party negotiations between Finnair and the Tallinn Airport. ‘The flight options for fliers from Tartu will expand significantly, since the early morning arrival in Helsinki means that fliers will now be able to continue aboard the first wave of flights leaving the airport,’ said the Mayor.
According to Arunas Skuja, Finnair’s General Manager for the Baltics and Eastern Europe, Estonia is an important market for Finnair. ‘All of the major destinations in Europe, Asia and North-America, which have been accessible from Tallinn, are now also accessible from Tartu, making Finnair one of the best choices for people in the South-Estonia region,’ said Skuja.
Representatives from Tartu’s institutions of higher learning and large businesses, as well as local government leaders from Võru, Viljandi and Valga, have been invited to the opening ceremony for the travel season.
A good faith cooperation agreement will be signed on site, the goal of which is to help develop Tartu’s air link. The signatories will help contribute to the sustainability of the local air link by preferring, when possible, flights departing from the Tartu Airport for air travel and sharing information on the opportunities for flying from Tartu.
As of 28 April, flights from Tartu to Helsinki will be departing six days a week. The flight will leave Tartu at 05.35 and arrive in Helsinki at 06.20, offering the opportunity to connect to 35 different continuing flights over a period of three hours. The Helsinki-Tartu flight will depart at 00.05 and arrive in Tartu at 00.50. Flights will not take place between Helsinki-Tartu on Saturday night and Tartu-Helsinki on early Sunday morning.
Regular air traffic from Tartu to Helsinki started in October 2011, when Flybe began flying between the two cities. In May 2015, Finnair began to service the route.