The Finnish transport authority examined the Turkish holiday airline and concluded that it was flying from Russia. Therefore, it denies landing rights to Southwind Airlines. The airline can still travel to Germany and Switzerland.
Russia's attack on Ukraine threatened to hit Turkey's tourism industry hard. In recent years, millions of people from both countries have made pilgrimages each year to the beaches of Antalya, Bodrum and Side. But it was not as bad as feared.
While the number of Ukrainian visitors is slowly recovering and is now about half of what it was in 2019, visits from Russia have increased significantly.
New airline Southwind should boost business in Russia
In 2022, 5.2 million Russians traveled to Turkey and in 2023 even 6.3 million. Last year, Turkey recorded the second highest number of arrivals from Russia in its history.
That doesn't mean that everything has gone as before. Some Turkish airlines have suspended flights to Russia and Russian airlines have cut capacity. For this reason, Turkey founded a new holiday airline, Southwind Airlines, in 2022, which should fully focus on its business in Russia.
Is the Turkish airline controlled from Russia?
Although the Turkish state was once behind its founding, people now believe, at least in Finland, that Southwind Airlines is not really Turkish.
“Our overall assessment shows that the mentioned Turkish persons or companies do not have significant ownership or effective control. We have come to the conclusion that the airline and its control are linked to Russian agents,” says Jarkko Saarimäki, head of transport authority Traficom.
Turkish airline Southwind also controls six cities in Germany
That has consequences. The Finnish authorities on Monday (March 25) rejected Southwind's request to be able to start flights between Helsinki and Antalya.
The actual control of the airline does not reside in Turkey, as required by the bilateral air transport agreement, explains Traficom. Flight operations are therefore not permitted under the EU Sanctions Regulation.
The big question now is how four other European countries will behave after the Finnish decision. This summer, Southwind Airline will fly to Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart in Germany, as well as Zurich in Switzerland.
It also flies to Greece and the United Kingdom. In addition to 18 destinations in Russia, it also offers destinations in Iran, Israel and Kazakhstan.