Scandinavian Airlines is set to launch seasonal flights between the Swedish capital Stockholm and the Estonian resort of Pärnu in the summer of 2022.
The route will be served by 70-seat ATR-72s from 25 June to 16 August. The flights, which will depart from and return to Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The flight time will be an hour and 20 minutes.
SAS launched ticket sales for flights on the Pärnu-Stockholm route on its website on 24 March. The prices are not fixed but will be adjusted by the airline according to the demand.
Irina Talviste, a deputy mayor of Pärnu, says that when the town and its companies began preparing for the launch of summer flights between Pärnu and the Finnish capital, Helsinki, no one had any idea that another important route would be secured for the city by summer 2022.
“Direct flights to Helsinki are a boon, but the chance to fly to the ‘Venice of the North’, as Stockholm is often called, is even better,” she said.
Pärnu Airport, located just four kilometres (three miles) from the namesake town, has been operating since 1939 (during the Soviet occupation, the airfield served the Soviet Air Force as an interceptor aircraft base). The airport was recently renovated and is also able to host larger charter flights with its 2000-metre runway.
Pärnu is the fourth largest town in Estonia, known as the country’s “summer capital”. Its long sandy beach, spas, parks and summer nightlife attract tens of thousands of tourists, both domestic and international, during the summer months.
SAS is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and it operates 180 aircraft to 90 destinations. It’s the eight-largest airline in Europe and the largest in Denmark and Sweden.
The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number “72” in its name is derived from the aircraft’s standard seating configuration in a passenger-carrying configuration, which could seat 72-78 passengers in a single-class arrangement.
