Finnair has announced that it will add a new short-haul route to Astana, Kazakhstan for the summer 2017 season.

The award-winning airline will operate two weekly flights between Helsinki and Astana, from June 20th until August 11th, with travellers from the UK able to take advantage of the new route to visit the 2017 World Expo which starts in the Kazakh capital in June 2017.

Finnair’s flights to Astana will be flown with an A319 aircraft and have a duration of four hours and ten minutes.

Helsinki departures will be flown on Tuesdays and Thursdays while flights from Astana will return on Wednesdays and Fridays.

“The addition of the Astana route will be a great asset in our expanding network for the summer 2017 season,” said Juha Järvinen, chief commercial officer, Finnair.

“This will be the first time Finnair flies to Kazakhstan and we are excited to take this first step in growing our operations in the Central Asian region.

“Millions of visitors are expected to attend the World Expo 2017 and we look forward to offering our European and North American customers an efficient way to travel to the Expo through our Helsinki hub.”

Finnair also recently announced that capacity between the UK and Helsinki will increase for the summer 2017 season due to high demand.

Edinburgh will be served by up to five weekly flights operated by a 138-seat Airbus A319 aircraft in a dual business and economy class configuration.

Finnair currently operates 42 flights a week from London Heathrow, 14 per week from Manchester and three per week from Edinburgh direct to its hub at Helsinki Vantaa Airport in Finland.