Air harbors in Finland

Finland is an amazing country of a thousand lakes with a unique Scandinavian nature, filled with the spirit of fabulous Lapland. Many Russians fly here at any time of the year hoping to meet Joulupukki and his wife Muori, who personifies winter, to admire the northern lights or the “midnight” sun, relax comfortably or just go shopping. Finnish airports hospitably open their gates to them, barely having time to serve the growing flow of tourists every day.

Largest Finnish Airports

As in other countries of the world, the largest international airports in Finland are located near major cities:

• Helsinki;
• Tampere;
• Turku.

The latter is located far from the Russian border and is oriented more towards the western direction.

Another airport, Lappeenranta, is especially popular among our tourists.

In principle, there is not much difference between them - the service is equally good everywhere, and carriers and airport services work like good hours.

Helsinki

The Finnish capital has two airports: Vantaa and Malmi.

Malmi appeared in 1938, 10 km northeast of the Finnish capital and until 1959 was considered the main air hub in Finland. It was the first airport in the world to be originally conceived as an international airport.

Today Malmi is located within the city limits and is currently used by small aircraft, as well as for training purposes. It ranks second in the country in terms of the number of take-offs and landings. Popular with fans of outdoor activities and air shows, which are held here every year.

Vantaa

Located 17 km north of the center of Helsinki, Helsinki-Vantaan is considered the leader in terms of passenger traffic. It was built before the 1952 Summer Olympics. At that time, it was the most modern in Finland, and this status still remains. These main air gates of the country handle approximately 90% of international traffic. It is operated by the state-owned Finavia, which is headquartered here in Helsinki.

Last year, the hub served 19 million passengers, of which 16.2 million were on international flights. Every day 50 regular airlines operate up to 350 flights per day. The flight map includes 80 European destinations, over 20 long-haul flights to Asia, the Middle East and North America, as well as 35 charter flights.

In 2021, Vantaa installed the world's first automatic congestion tracking system to prevent bottlenecks. Thanks to it, superfast transit is ensured: the standard flight connection time is 35 minutes, which is one of the best indicators in Europe.

In March 2021, Vantaa Airport was named the best airport in Northern Europe by the British consulting firm Skytrax. Moreover, it was several times recognized as the best in Europe in the opinion of passengers.

The airport has two terminals connected by a walkway, 29 exits and 80 parking lots. After reconstruction, which is currently underway, the number of gates will increase to 60.

In the air terminal complex you can find literally everything - from restaurants and all kinds of cafes working almost round the clock to various exhibitions. All signs are in English, Swedish, Finnish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. The airport has two hotels - Hilton and GLO, and there are six more nearby. There is a free shuttle bus from the terminals to the hotels.

In the immediate vicinity is the Finnish Aviation Museum (Ilmailumuseo), which displays 80 military and civil aircraft and helicopters, on-board electronics, training simulators, map collections and hundreds of photographs depicting the rise of the Finnish air force. It is not only comfortable here, but also interesting.

Lappeenranta

The international airport, located in the city of the same name Lappeenranta, is one of the oldest air hubs in the country (opened in 1918). It is located near the Russian border, therefore it is also called St. Petersburg West, because St. Petersburg is less than 200 km from here.

Today it is the most eastern airport in the European Union, from which you can travel to Europe at the lowest prices. In particular, since 2009 AirBaltic has been operating flights from Finland to Riga.

In 2021, Ryanair began operating flights to the Weeze Airport located near Düsseldorf, and flights to Milan and Athens started in the spring of this year. Primera Air Nordic flies to Barcelona. There are also flights of budget companies to Tenerife and Faro (Portugal). Search and purchase of cheap air tickets is possible online.

The airport opens two hours before the scheduled departure. Its terminal is considered one of the most modern. On the territory of the terminal there is a waiting room with a cafe, a children's room, an information desk, a BarFly bar and a Vanha Pilotti restaurant. Everything looks modest, but very comfortable, and works quickly and efficiently.

Tampere

The airport of the second largest Finnish city is called Pirkkala. Located 13 km southwest of the center of Tampere. Its popularity among tourists is due to the possibility of purchasing inexpensive tickets to a fairly significant number of destinations. Low-cost flights are operated from here to almost any major European center, however, if you wish, you can choose the best option by also studying the schedule and prices of regular carriers.

General information

Tampere Airport is the third in the country in terms of passenger traffic and the second in terms of international traffic. About 600 thousand people use its services annually. It serves regular flights of nine airlines. Also presented are charter and low-cost carriers. The main ones are Finnair, SAS, AirBaltic and Blue1. The most frequent flights are carried out by them to Helsinki, Stockholm, Riga, Bremen, Hamburg, Budapest and Chania (Greece).

The low-cost airline Ryanair, which operates flights to cities in Central and Western Europe, has made Pirkkala one of the fastest growing Finnish airports.

Operated by Finavia.

In 2021, the airport was modernized, and in the summer of this year, a major overhaul was carried out. The apron was enlarged and the cover of the runway and taxiways was renewed. Pirkkala is closed daily from 01.30 to 04.00.

It is interesting for a tourist

An inquiry service is available at each of the two terminals. The official Finavia website also allows you to get all the information passengers need. Moreover, there is a choice of the Russian-language version. The flight schedule can be viewed on the online scoreboard in real time at www.finavia.fi/en/node/252?tab=dep. There is a search both by flight number and by the name of the airline.

If you select the "Registration" tab next to the name, a list of options for the procedure and the order of passage in time will appear.

As a rule, check-in for domestic flights starts 2 hours in advance, and for international flights 2 hours 30 minutes in advance. It ends in both cases 40 minutes before departure. Registration only requires a ticket and passport. If the ticket is electronic, one passport is enough.

You can get to the center of Tampere by taxi or using the bus route no. 1A, which leaves from the first terminal once an hour. The railway station can be reached from the second terminal by the Ryanair bus, the schedule of which is tied to the company's flight schedule. You can get to Helsinki only with a change in Tampere or by taxi.

Tampere terminals

The airport is small, but has two terminals:

• No. 1 - used by all airlines;
• No. 2 - Serves exclusively regular Ryanair flights during the summer.

The first terminal is open:

• from Monday to Friday - from 03.00 to 01.30;
• on Saturday from 03.00 to 18.00;
• on Sunday from 04.30 to 01.30.

The second opens two hours before the flight.Terminal 1 offers passengers a restaurant, a conference room for 22 people, a hall for passengers with disabilities, a VIP room with a toilet and a kitchen for ten people, an ATM, a police station and a post office. On the diagram, it looks like this:

There is none of this in the second terminal. There are only check-in counters and luggage surcharges, as well as a terminal for accessing the World Wide Web. Its circuit looks like this:

Here passengers get to the board themselves, however, they put it next to the exit to the airfield. Your flight can be tracked on the arrival and departure boards available in each terminal. The diagram of their location can be found below:

Other air harbors in Finland

In general, there are about 30 airports in Finland, two dozen of which are international. We decided to limit ourselves to listing the most famous and convenient for Russians with a brief description of each of them:

1. Turku. Located eight kilometers north of Turku city center. It is one of the four largest Finnish air hubs with two terminals serving about a dozen companies. From here AirBaltic planes fly to Riga and Oulu, Nextjet to Mariehamn, Finnair to Rhodes (charter), Norwegian Air Shuttle to Alicante, Sky Airlines to Antalya (charter), Wizz Air to Gdansk. Highways to Tampere and St. Petersburg pass through the airport.
2. Rovaniemi. The fifth in terms of passenger traffic. Located in the Arctic Circle, 10 km north of the city of Rovaniemi. Regular flights to Helsinki and Murmansk (seasonally) are operated by Finnair and Norwegian Air Shuttle, and Transavia - to Amsterdam (seasonally). Approximately 11 charter destinations cover more than thirty destinations in Europe.
3. Pori. Located 2.6 km south of the center of the eleventh largest city of Pori. The main international destination is Stockholm. Terminal one. There is a travel agency, parking, restaurant and post office.
4. Ivalo. The airport, located in the village of Ivalo, is the northernmost airport in Finland. The main directions: Easy Jet - London, Manchester, Transavia - Amsterdam, Finnair - Helsinki, Kittila.
5. Joensuu. Joensuu Airport is also considered the easternmost in the European Union. Located in northern Karelia. Four flights (three on weekends) to Helsinki, and that's it.
6. Oulu. The airport is located about 6 km southwest of Oulu city center. Only Vantaa is second in terms of passenger traffic. From here you can fly to Helsinki (12 flights daily), Copenhagen, Riga, Turku, Stockholm.
7. Mariehamn. The airport is located 3 km north of Mariehamn, the main city of the Åland Islands. Served by Finavia. Flights are operated to Helsinki, Turku and Stockholm.
8. Jyväskylä. Located in the center of Lake Finland, about 20 km north of the center of the same name. Estonian airlines operate flights to Tallinn and Flybe to Helsinki.
9. Savonlinna. It is located about 15 km north of the center of Savonlinna, 330 km from Helsinki and 390 km from St. Petersburg. Has one terminal with a single waiting room and cafeteria. Flybe flies from here to Helsinki. During the Opera Festival, the frequency of charters and regular flights increases dramatically.
10. Vaasa. Located 9 km southeast of the center of Vaasa. The sixth in terms of passenger traffic (approximately 300 thousand people per year). It was recognized as the airport of the year three times. Regular flights are operated by Air Baltic, Blue 1, Finnair and Flybe. During the summer, there are charter flights to Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Thailand and the Canary Islands.
11. Kajaani. Located 7 km northwest of Kajaani city center in the heart of Finland. Estonian Air flies from here to Tallinn, Flybe to Helsinki and RusLine to Domodedovo.

Finally

For a relatively small country, the airport network is well developed. Given the high quality of Finnish service, it would be unwise to neglect such opportunities. And not so much for trips to Finland, as for the sake of traveling much further. Moreover, there are plenty of low-cost airlines there.