German airline Lufthansa will open a scheduled route from Munich to Kittila, northern Finland, a move believed to add momentum to the Arctic tourism.
The service will commence in December this year, the state owned Finnish airport operator Finnavia announced on Thursday. Both economy and business class travel on Airbus 320s will be provided.
Director Joni Sundelin from Finavia said in a press release the decision by Lufthansa is great news not only to Finnavia but also to the tourist industry in Lapland.
Kittila is a tourist town associated with the winter resort of Levi in Finnish Lapland area. The vast snowy land has been well known for Arctic activities ranging from sledge safari, snow shoe hiking, and ice fishing to aurora chasing and Santa Claus visiting. It also gets popular for tourists to experience the culture maintained by indigenous Sami people.
Finavia and the local tourist industry have worked intensely to get direct scheduled connections to Lapland from continental Europe. So far international travelers usually land in Helsinki before they can be transferred to Lapland.
Local authorities in Lapland have been disappointed with the emphasis Finnair has placed on its long haul flights to Asia.
Earlier in March Finnair announced that some of their flights serving Kemi, south of Kittila, will in the future originate in Lulea, Sweden, to accentuate the role of Helsinki as an easy transfer point from Northern Sweden to Asia.
However, Finnair will continue providing some service to Kemi. Some years ago there was a Finnair non-stop service between Kittila and Paris.