OREANDA-NEWS. Miami International Airport will welcome international carrier Finnair in December with scheduled service between MIA and Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The new service will mark MIA's 16th destination in Europe and the southeastern U.S.'s only non-stop connection to the Nordic country.

Finnair will launch two weekly nonstop flights on December 16 utilizing Airbus A340 aircraft arranged in a two-class Business and Economy configuration. Beginning on January 3, 2015, the Miami-Helsinki service will increase to three weekly flights through March 21 when the seasonal service concludes. Finnair is Finland's national flagship carrier and a member of the oneworld alliance, which includes MIA hub carrier American Airlines as well as scheduled MIA carriers airberlin, British Airways, Iberia and LAN.

"We look forward to Finnair's new seasonal Miami-Helsinki service, as well as to meeting with Finnair's leadership in the near future to discuss the possibility of regular scheduled service," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. Gonzalez. "MIA's global network continues to grow, and we are proud to be the only airport in the southeastern United States to offer a direct connection between these two fabulous destinations."

Finnair is the fourth European carrier to announce 2014 service to MIA, joining Jetairfly with Brussels service, XL Airways France with Paris service and Air Europa with service to Madrid.