Edinburgh flights: Major airline increases Edinburgh flights to winter wonderland famed for Christmas markets

Carrier says flight times have been specifically chosen to allow easy connections

Finnair has announced it is increasing the number of flights from Edinburgh to Helsinki, the stunning Finnish city famed for its Christmas markets.

From October 2024, Scottish passengers will get an additional two weekly flights from Auld Reekie to the Finland's southern capital, which means there will be six flights per week next winter. Alongside extra flights from Manchester, Finnair says the flight times have been specifically chosen to allow easy connections to its wider network via Helsinki, including Northern Finland, Scandinavia and Japan.

The carrier, which has the government of Finland as its majority shareholder, said: “Finnair is adding more flights to the British Isles for the next winter season. Manchester will get five additional weekly frequencies, and Dublin and Edinburgh will both get two additional weekly frequencies.

Finnair is increasing the number of flights from Edinburgh to Helsinki, the stunning Finnish city famed for its Christmas markets. Photo: Julia Kivel / Visit Finland.

“All these flights will connect seamlessly with Finnair’s flights to Northern Finland, Scandinavia and Japan.”

Known as “the Christmas City”, Helsinki is hugely popular with winter travellers. The non-stop flight time from Edinburgh is 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Last month, we reported that Edinburgh Airport will welcome JetBlue in 2024 as the low-cost airline launches its first ever Scottish route to New York.

The low-cost carrier will run a summer service from the Scottish capital to New York JFK from May to September 2024, marking the first time it has ever operated in Scotland.

Flights will depart daily on an Airbus A321neo, giving passengers even more opportunity to see the bright lights of Times Square. The addition of this route further enhances connectivity to North America out of Scotland’s busiest airport after a strong 2023 where transatlantic capacity was up 51 per cent on 2019 levels.