The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom has adopted decisions on the winners of the public tender procedure to procure state-subsidised scheduled air services for routes between Helsinki and five regional airports. Finnair won the contracts for all routes. Flights are set to begin 31 October 2022.
The call for tenders for scheduled air services concerned the routes Helsinki–Joensuu, Helsinki–Jyväskylä and Helsinki–Kajaani as well as the triangular route between the Helsinki, Kokkola-Pietarsaari and Kemi-Tornio airports. The contract period runs from 31 October 2022 to 30 July 2023.
Tenders were received from four airlines: Amapola Flyg AB, DAT A/S, NyxAir OÜ and Finnair Plc. Three tenders were submitted for the Joensuu route, two for the Kajaani and Jyväskylä routes and one for the Kemi–Kokkola route. The contracts were awarded based on the comparison of price between all tenderers that met the requirements set in the invitation to tender.
“We have made the procurement decision and will now begin contract negotiations with Finnair. We hope to conclude the negotiations as soon as possible so that the operation of flights can begin as planned on 31 October 2022,” says Director Pipsa Eklund.
There will be up to two round-trip flights per weekday on the direct routes and three triangular flights on the route Kemi–Kokkola–Helsinki. The flights to Jyväskylä are set to end earlier than others, on 23 June 2023, and this shorter period will be compensated with a slightly higher standard of service in the form of one more flight per week.
“We may be able to slightly raise the standard of service to the airports during the contract period because the procurement price was below budget, as planned. However, we must take into account and prepare for the potential rise in fuel prices. The level of service will be somewhat lower than in the previous contract period,” Eklund says. Based on the tenders received, the procurement price amounts to EUR 13.7 million.
Support to regional flights decided by Parliament
The tender procedure is based on an appropriation for purchasing air services granted by the Finnish Parliament and an earlier temporary solution adopted in 2020 to rebuild, in cooperation with the cities, market-based air services to the five airports towards the level preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 11 March 2022, Parliament approved in the first supplementary budget of the year an appropriation of EUR 17 million that can be used to cover the costs of public service obligations concerning air services. Traficom has imposed a public service obligation on the routes in question.
ENQUIRIES
Pipsa Eklund, Director, pipsa.eklund@traficom.fi, tel. +358 29 534 5396