From the beginning of next year, Discover Airlines will start flying directly from Frankfurt to Oulu and back twice a week.
On Monday, 9 June 2025, Oulu Airport celebrated Discover Airlines’ new connection between Oulu and Frankfurt. Discover Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, is expanding its year-round connection from Frankfurt to Kittilä by adding a stop in Oulu. In addition to the summer route, the airline has just confirmed that from 16 January 2026, the Oulu–Frankfurt route will be operated as a direct service twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Unlike the current summer schedule, flights will no longer continue to Kittilä, so the route will be a direct connection in both directions.
Frankfurt is one of Europe’s most important air traffic hubs. Discover’s connection will offer a new, wide range of connections to different parts of the world for people in Oulu and Northern Finland. From June to the end of September, flights will stop in Oulu twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays – a valuable service for both Oulu’s business community and tourists. From January onwards, the flight schedule will remain the same. Flights can be booked at discover-airlines.com and lufthansa.com.
Oulu is continuously negotiating with various airlines to open new direct flight connections.
– Discover Airlines’ direct flight connection from Frankfurt to Oulu is another step towards improving the accessibility of our region. It is important that we raise awareness of Oulu, especially in Germany, and develop leisure travel in particular – business travel alone is not enough to justify opening new routes. We need tourists who stay and use services in the Northern Finland tourist region. I would like to thank Discover Airlines and Lufthansa for their excellent cooperation, which I hope will continue in the future, says Yrjötapio Kivisaari, CEO of Visit Oulu.
Numerous factors influence the planning of flight routes. In addition to local factors, airline decisions are influenced by factors such as the allocation of aircraft capacity in line with global seasonal fluctuations in tourism.
At the European level, aircraft capacity is committed to serving holiday traffic from Central Europe to Southern Europe during the summer, which means that capacity must also be utilised during the winter season. This is one of the key factors behind the rapid growth of winter flight connections to Lapland.
The profitability of flight routes is also assessed very carefully from different perspectives, such as passenger profiles, seasonal fluctuations, flight times and suitable aircraft types.
Long-term work to develop air traffic in Oulu
The weakening of Oulu’s air transport connections after the coronavirus pandemic has created a bottleneck for the development of the region’s business life and tourism. Developing air transport requires long-term lobbying and marketing work as well as sufficient resources.
Extensive cooperation is underway in the Oulu region to develop air traffic in Oulu. Key players in the advocacy and marketing work include BusinessOulu, Visit Oulu, the Council of Oulu Region, the Chamber of Commerce, and entrepreneurs’ organisations.
– The new connection to Frankfurt opens many new opportunities for Oulu and its residents. I hope that the connection will be actively used so that it can be maintained and we will get even better connections in the future. Active cooperation for better accessibility is also taking place between the cities and municipalities in the region, says Juuso Rönnholm of BusinessOulu.
The municipalities in the Oulu region are committed to a joint air traffic development programme aimed at strengthening traffic at Oulu Airport. In addition to Oulu, the development programme involves Hailuoto, Ii, Kalajoki, Kempele, Kuusamo, Liminka, Lumijoki, Muhos, Pudasjärvi, Taivalkoski, Tyrnävä, Utajärvi and Vaala.
In addition, Visit Oulu has just launched a project aimed at developing charter air traffic with the goal of opening new charter connections to Oulu Airport for the winter season. The main target markets for the project include Germany and Spain.
The project, which is co-financed by the European Union, is part of a larger regional project coordinated by the Council of Oulu Region. It supports the international tourism marketing work carried out by Visit Oulu, with cooperation with tour operators as a key measure. The European Capital of Culture year in 2026 serves as a content-based attraction, which will be used to seek significant growth in international tourism in Oulu in the coming years.
Further information:
Yrjötapio Kivisaari, CEO, Visit Oulu, +358 40 5466283
Juuso Rönnholm, Head of Knowledge Management and Societal Advocacy, BusinessOulu, +358 50 574 1504