Published: Thursday, May 16, 2020
COPENHAGEN (Denmark) — Finland’s national airline Finnair announced Thursday that it would resume flights to Estonia’s second-largest city, Tartu, in June. Two of its planes had been prevented from landing at Tartu due to GPS disruptions last month.
It was not known immediately what caused the GPS interference, which forced two flights on April 25 and 26 to return to Helsinki. Estonian officials blamed Russia for the jamming of the area.
Finnair says that the airport in Tartu now relies on radio signals from ground stations to guide plane landings instead of GPS signals.
Jari Paajanen of Finnair’s Operations Control thanked the Estonian Air Navigation Services “so quickly” for finding a new method.
Earlier this month, the airline announced that it would suspend flying to Tartu through May 31 due to interference. The Finnish airline, the only one operating international flights to Tartu has two flights a day from Helsinki, six days a weeks.
The airline stated that GPS interference has increased significantly since 2022. Finnair reported interference “especially near Kaliningrad and the Black Sea.” The Estonian Foreign Ministry Margus Tsahkna said the jamming could lead to a crash.
Finnair’s aircraft detect GPS interference, and its pilots “are well aware of GPS interferance and know how they can prepare for it.”
Source: ABC News