Luft­han­sa launc­hes direct flights between Oulu and Munich

The Ger­man air­li­ne Luft­han­sa will launch direct flights between Munich and Oulu on Decem­ber 16, 2023. The flights will ope­ra­te on Wed­nes­days and Satur­days.

From a busi­ness pers­pec­ti­ve, the flight launc­hing will open a new gateway that con­nects Oulu with the heart of Euro­pe.

Accor­ding to Business­Oulu Direc­tor Juha Ala-Mur­su­la, “this is a his­to­ric breakth­rough that will pro­vi­de Oulu Region busi­nes­ses with access to the vital Ger­man mar­kets and, more broad­ly, Cent­ral Euro­pe.”

Yrjö­ta­pio Kivi­saa­ri, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Oulu Tou­rism Ltd (Oulun Mat­kai­lu Oy), expres­ses that the ope­ning of the new flight con­nec­tion is the is the result of long-term effort:

– Oulun Mat­kai­lu Oy and Business­Oulu have been sys­te­ma­tical­ly nego­tia­ting and wor­king on the rou­te’s ope­ning for a year and a half. We have met Luft­han­sa repre­sen­ta­ti­ves seve­ral times in Fin­land and abroad. Fina­via has also taken part in the nego­tia­tions, says Kivi­saa­ri

Based on infor­ma­tion from Oulun Mat­kai­lu Oy, the new flight con­nec­tion is expec­ted to inc­rea­se win­ter tou­rism in the Oulu region and to enable diver­se coo­pe­ra­tion with Ger­man tour ope­ra­tors. Near­ly 4,000 new Ger­man tou­rists could arri­ve in the region this win­ter.

– Oulu is final­ly on our rou­te map! We have been wor­king hard for seve­ral months to inclu­de this mis­sing piece in our Fin­nish des­ti­na­tions. This is the per­fect moment to launch a rou­te to and from Oulu, and it will fit in per­fect­ly with the other rou­tes of the Lufh­tan­sa Group air­li­nes, men­tio­ned Pat­rick Borg Hed­ley, Count­ry Mana­ger Fin­land for Lufh­tan­sa Group air­li­nes.

Sum­mer flights in the futu­re?

Luft­han­sa flights between Oulu and Munich will be avai­lable from 18 July. Win­ter flights will ope­ra­te until the end of March 2024.
Oulu Tou­rism (Oulun Mat­kai­lu Oy) and Business­Oulu hope that boo­kings will start as soon as pos­sible.

A deci­sion on the con­ti­nua­tion of the rou­te for next sum­mer will alrea­dy be taken during this autumn. Accor­ding to Kivi­saa­ri “the pro­fi­ta­bi­li­ty of the rou­te will be calcu­la­ted from the moment it opens.”

– We hope that the good success of the rou­te would gua­ran­tee its con­ti­nui­ty and bring tou­rists to the Oulu region in the futu­re as well. In the futu­re, the air con­nec­tion would also enable busi­ness tra­vel and lei­su­re tra­vel for Oulu resi­dents in the direc­tion of Euro­pe.

It is hoped that the new flight con­nec­tion will bring healt­hy com­pe­ti­tion and inc­rea­se pas­sen­ger num­bers at Oulu Air­port.

Pet­ri Vuo­ri, direc­tor of Fina­via’s rou­te deve­lop­ment says:

– The rou­te ope­ning is great news for Oulu Air­port, which car­ries tra­di­tion as an impor­tant part of Fina­via’s air­port network and the acces­si­bi­li­ty of Fin­land. Luft­han­sa’s rou­te to Cent­ral Euro­pe sig­ni­ficant­ly impro­ves the con­nec­tions of Oulu region resi­dents to the world, con­nec­ting them to the compre­hen­si­ve rou­te network of Munich Air­port. The rou­te also opens a new con­nec­tion for tou­rism hea­ding north from Ger­ma­ny.

Addi­tio­nal infor­ma­tion:

Juha Ala-Mur­su­la, Direc­tor, Business­Oulu
+358 40 559 7020, juha.ala-mursula@businessoulu.com

Juuso Rönn­holm, Public Affairs Mana­ger, Business­Oulu
+358 50 574 1504, juuso.ronnholm@businessoulu.com

Mar­kus Issa­kai­nen (Luft­han­sa), Juuso Rönn­holm (Business­Oulu), Yrjö­ta­pio Kivi­saa­ri (Visit Oulu), Pat­rick Borg Hed­ley (Luft­han­sa) and Juha Ala-Mur­su­la (Business­Oulu).