Finnair to Resume Flights After GPS Interference Unofficially Blamed on Russia

The Finnish airline Finnair will resume flights to the Estonian city of Tartu from June 2. The flights were suspended previously due to consistent reports of GPS interference, which was unofficially blamed on Russia.

Finnair has updated its navigation techniques, eliminating the need for GPS signals.

“Estonian Air Navigation Services (EANS) has done an excellent job in implementing the alternative method. I want to thank all our partners in Estonia for solving this matter so swiftly,” says Jari Paajanen, Vice President, Operations Control at Finnair.

In April, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia hinted at Russia for jamming GPS in the Baltic Sea, causing two Finnair flights from Helsinki to Tartu to be diverted back to Finland. Experts say that tens of thousands of civilian flights have been affected by GPS interference in recent months.

No one has officially accused Russia of signal jamming. However, unofficially, officials from various countries concur: the interference originates from Russian territory, specifically Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave positioned between Germany and Poland.

Moreover, researchers from different teams have tried to find or calculate the location of the jamming itself. The teams are different, but their conclusion is the same—Kaliningrad.