Starting from December 2024, the Spanish airline Iberia will begin flights between Madrid and Rovaniemi, which will become the first direct flight between Lapland and Spain. The route will be operated twice a week and the flight will take approximately 4 hours. The CEO of Visit Rovaniemi, Sanna Kärkkäinen, has welcomed the new Madrid addition, expressing gratitude on the broader and more comprehensive representation of flight routes in Rovaniemi.
The direct flights to Rovaniemi will make it easier for Laplanders to access Southern European destinations. During the past winter, Rovaniemi has received flights from eight different countries, from eleven European airports, including London, Paris, Milan, and Istanbul, with the Istanbul airport even having notable connections to the rest of the world. The Rovaniemi airport also functions as a gateway to the rest of the Lapland as many of the travelers continue from there to other parts of Lapland.
Lapland remains a popular tourist destination and this winter has been extraordinarily busy, with direct flights to Rovaniemi in high demand. According to Kärkkäinen, the direct flights to Rovaniemi are here to stay and negotiations for new flights for the next winter are ongoing.
Source: Yle, https://yle.fi/a/74-20026863