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Turkish Airlines Launches New Route to Rovaniemi, Finland

A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 (Photo: By RHL Images from England (Turkish B737 TC-JYG) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The first scheduled service to Rovaniemi, Finland by a European airline from outside of the European Union started earlier this week as Turkish Airlines launched its operations to the city from its hub in Istanbul. The airline, which flies to more countries than any other in the world, started operations to its second Finnish destination following Helsinki on Dec. 5 using its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. 

The destination is the 317th for the airline and is to be served three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Turkish Airlines is also the only airline to offer business class service to the destination.

At the inaugural flight’s ceremony, Orhan Birdal, a Turkish Airlines board member – said: “As the airline that flies to more countries than any other, Turkish Airlines is now happy to add Rovaniemi to its flight network, the second destination of the airline in Finland after starting its flights to the country’s capital city of Helsinki back in 1988.”

“We invite our guests from all over the world to experience this special city via our extensive flight connectivity that covers 317 cities in 126 countries.” 

The city is otherwise connected primarily to Helsinki with Finnair and Norwegian, but other airlines offer a mixture of seasonal flights such as easyJet and TUI to London and Manchester, Neos to Milan and Israir to Tel Aviv.

TK1749 leaves Istanbul at 9:50 a.m., arriving in Rovaniemi at 1:30 p.m. After just over three hours on the ground, the aircraft operates back to Istanbul as TK1750 at 4:55 p.m. for a 10:15 p.m. arrival back in Istanbul.

Rovaniemi is being highlighted by the airline as a prime destination to view the Northern Lights from due to its location on the Arctic Circle. Some airlines including TUI and Aer Lingus also use the destination for charter flights over the Christmas period, branding the destination as “Lapland,” allowing guests to meet Santa and his reindeer.

Connor Sadler
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  • Connor Sadler

    Connor has been in love with flying since the first time he boarded a plane when he was 5 years old. He loves all things aviation, and he hopes to make that his full time career in the future.

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