Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, launched its long-awaited direct flight route between Riga and Oulu at the end of March. Initially, flights were only available for the summer season, i.e., until the end of October, but airBaltic has now announced that it will continue operating the route during the winter season as well.
Less than a month after launching the Riga–Oulu route, airBaltic announced on April 22 that it will continue direct round-trip flights from Riga to Oulu even after this coming October. The route, which launched on March 30, will thus be extended beyond the availability that covered this summer season. Flights for the upcoming winter season are now on sale.
In airBaltic’s strategy, the primary purpose of the Oulu route is to expand international travel opportunities in Northern Finland. Travellers from Oulu can easily reach numerous destinations across Europe and beyond via the Riga hub.
– It has been nearly a month since we launched direct flights between Oulu and Riga, during which time we have seen demand grow steadily and interest in the route remain high. For this reason, we are pleased to be able to expand the route to year-round service. The route offers passengers a fast and convenient connection to Riga, as well as seamless connecting flights to over 80 destinations across Europe via the airBaltic network – which opens up a wide range of opportunities for both business and leisure travellers, says Mantas Vrubliauskas, Vice President of Network Management at airBaltic.
At Finavia, this positive news inspires confidence in the route’s demand and its future development.
– The expansion of airBaltic’s Riga–Oulu route to year-round service is excellent news from the perspective of the Oulu region’s accessibility. It’s great that passengers have already embraced the new route, and we believe its popularity will continue to grow during the winter season, when there is increasing demand for destinations in northern Finland, states Petri Vuori, Senior Vice President of Sales and Route Development at Finavia.
In Oulu, the news that the route will be made available year-round so quickly is naturally very welcome.
– We are extremely pleased that airBaltic decided so quickly to continue flights and offer a connection from Oulu via the Baltics to the world and to city and vacation destinations even during the winter season. The route operates in both directions, of course, and we hope that travellers will increasingly find their way to Oulu via this route as well, although our main hope is, of course, for the year-round connection to become established, comments Jyrki Kemppainen, Key Account Director for the tourism sector at BusinessOulu.
AirBaltic operates over 130 routes from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere, and seasonally from Gran Canaria, offering connections to numerous destinations within the airline’s route network in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caucasus region. A comprehensive schedule of airBaltic flights and tickets can be found on the company’s website at www.airbaltic.com.