Brussels Airlines announced on 17 August 2026 that it will significantly increase the capacity it offers to Europe's far north during the 2026/27 winter season, launching scheduled service from its Brussels-Zaventem base to three Arctic destinations.
The three new points are Evenes in northern Norway, close to the Lofoten archipelago; Kemi in Finland, at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia near the Swedish border; and KittilΓ€, one of the gateways to Finnish Lapland. All three had previously been served mainly through charter operations in cooperation with tour operators, and will now also be bookable as regular scheduled flights.
Each route gets a different level of service. KittilΓ€ is the busiest, running three times weekly between 10 December 2026 and 27 March 2027. Kemi is offered twice weekly from Christmas Day 2026 through 10 March 2027. Evenes is the thinnest of the three, served once per week and only during February and March 2027.
Brussels Airlines said the additions respond to the growing popularity of northern destinations, which offer travellers unique winter landscapes and unspoilt nature, including the chance to see the Northern Lights.
The Belgian carrier is far from alone. Over the last few years a number of European airlines have added services to the northern reaches of the Nordic countries, turning what was once a highly seasonal, family-oriented market built around the run-up to Christmas and the Santa Claus theme into a broader travel niche with much wider appeal.
Within the Lufthansa Group, of which Brussels Airlines is part, the scale is already substantial: in March 2026 group airlines were operating up to 69 weekly flights during the winter months from various Central and Western European airports to destinations close to the Arctic Circle.
Lufthansa itself is expanding in the same direction this winter. The German flag carrier is launching a new nonstop service between Munich and Rovaniemi and adding a second weekly frequency between Munich and KittilΓ€. Frankfurt will also see more frequencies to Rovaniemi and to Kuusamo, both in Lapland, while TromsΓΈ in northern Norway picks up two additional frequencies to both Frankfurt and Munich.
For Brussels Airlines, converting charter-era destinations into scheduled service is a low-risk way to test a market: the underlying demand is proven, the season is short and clearly defined, and the flights can be scaled up or quietly dropped depending on how the winter sells.
Sources: AeroTime, Aviation24. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By James Holloway.
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