Helsinki Airport

This article is about the main international airport open since 1952. For the general aviation airport serving the city, see Helsinki-Malmi Airport. For Helsinki's first and former airport operated as a seaplane base, see Katajanokka Airport.

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema
Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorFinavia
ServesHelsinki metropolitan area
LocationAviapolis, Vantaa, Finland
OpenedJuly 1952; 72 years ago (1952-07)
Hub for
Elevation AMSL55 m / 179 ft
Coordinates60°19′02″N 024°57′48″E / 60.31722°N 24.96333°E / 60.31722; 24.96333
Websitewww.helsinkiairport.fi
Map
HEL/EFHK is located in Finland
HEL/EFHK
HEL/EFHK
Location within Finland
HEL/EFHK is located in Scandinavia
HEL/EFHK
HEL/EFHK
HEL/EFHK (Scandinavia)
HEL/EFHK is located in Europe
HEL/EFHK
HEL/EFHK
HEL/EFHK (Europe)
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04R/22L 3,500 11,483 Asphalt
04L/22R 3,060 10,039 Asphalt
15/33 2,901 9,518 Asphalt
Helipads
Number Length Surface
m ft
H16/H34 310 1,017 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passengers15,313,355
Passenger change 22–23Increase 18.9%
Landings34,653
Cargo (metric tonnes)171,198
Source: Finavia
Helsinki airport deals with significant snow and ice

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (Finnish: Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, Swedish: Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats)[1] (IATA: HEL, ICAO: EFHK), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport serving Helsinki, the capital of Finland, as well as its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region in Finland. The airport is located in the neighbouring city of Vantaa, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) west of Tikkurila, the administrative centre of Vantaa and 9.2 NM (17.0 km; 10.6 mi) north[1] of Helsinki's city centre. The airport is operated by state-owned Finavia.[2] The facility covers a total of 1,800 hectares (4,448 acres) of land and contains three runways.[3]

The airport is by far the busiest in Finland (with 20 times the traffic of the next-busiest, Rovaniemi) and the fourth busiest in the Nordic countries in terms of passenger numbers. About 90% of Finland's international air traffic passes through Helsinki Airport.[4] In 2023, Helsinki Airport had a total of 15.3 million passengers, 88% of whom were international passengers and 12% domestic passengers.[5] On average, the airport handles around 350 departures a day.[4]

The airport is the main hub for Finnair, the flag carrier of Finland, and its subsidiary Nordic Regional Airlines. It is also a hub for CityJet (on behalf of SAS) and an operating base for Jettime, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Sunclass Airlines and TUI fly Nordic. Helsinki Airport has around 50 regularly-operating airlines. The airport has around 80 scheduled destinations to other parts of Europe and 21 direct long-haul routes to Asia, the Middle East, and North America. There are also 35 charter destinations including numerous long-haul charter destinations.[6][7]

Originally built for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the airport today provides jobs for 25,000 people and 1,500 companies operate at the airport.[8][9]

Finavia aims to strengthen the position of Helsinki Airport in transit passenger traffic between Europe and Asia, and to increase the number of direct connections to Europe.[10] Helsinki Airport's minimum transit time of 35 minutes is among the shortest in Europe.[11] According to Finavia's survey, as many as one in every three passengers select their flight route based on the transit airport.[12]

  1. ^ a b "EFHK Helsinki-Vantaa" (PDF). AIP Suomi / Finland. Finavia. 8 December 2016. pp. EFHK AD 2.1, pp. 1–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference finavia_airlines was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "History and Facts about Helsinki Int'l Airport". finavia.fi. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference finavia_brief was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Statistics: A total of 18.3 million passengers flew via Finavia's airports in 2023 – an increase of 19% year-on-year". Finavia.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference finavia_20151119 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ https://dxww91gv4d0rs.cloudfront.net/file/dl/i/JusghA/CjHbljRqTjJ85QovERE1AQ/Helsinki_Airport_Fact_Sheet.pdf [dead link‍]
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference helsinkiairport.net was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Helsinki Airport's urban travel centre combines different ways of transport". Finavia. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  10. ^ "Finavia: Helsinki Airport". Finavia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  11. ^ "Finavia Annual Report 2012: Competitiveness". Finavia. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  12. ^ "Finavia is starting a major development programme at Helsinki Airport". Finavia. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.