airBaltic has opened a new base in Tampere-Pirkkala (TMP), Finland, which will connect seven destinations in Europe in addition to ongoing operations to Riga, Latvia.

Finland’s second most important city will be connected to major European cities as well as a few summer connections, which include Málaga (AGP) in Spain.

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“From today we call Tampere one of our bases. The opening of the new base provides new travel opportunities for our current and future travelers. We expect the demand for passengers to grow gradually, and therefore we may launch additional new destinations to various business hubs and leisure destinations over time,” Martin Gauss, CEO of Airbuk.

Tampere had flights only from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Finnair and Ryanair. Low Cost decided to withdraw its base in 2015 which provided connectivity to seven cities in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary and Spain.

In 2008, it peaked with 709,356 passengers packed, then dropped to 208,930 passengers in 2016, according to data provided by Venavia.

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Marie Normenen, Deputy Director of Airports for Central and Eastern Finland and Director of Tampere-Pirkkala Airport in Finance Shouted: “Seven new routes bring a variety of European cities closer to leisure and business travelers in the Tampere-Pirkkala region, which we can all be very excited about.”

Anna Kaisa Ekkonen, Mayor of Tampere, was excited to be back on trips to various destinations in Europe. Direct flights to Europe guarantee the success and development of the Tampere metropolitan area. This is a great opportunity for the export industries, the event and experience economy, as well as for the leisure traveller.”

Routes and frequencies