100 days until the opening of the airport of the future

Credit: Finavia

“The largest development project in Finavia’s history at Helsinki Airport, will reach a significant milestone on 1 December 2021. The airport’s new entrance and its beautiful wooden ceiling, new taxi ranks and bus station, multimodal travel centre, new parking hall and the spectacular arrivals hall will be opened for passengers,” said Henri Hansson, Finavia’s Technical Director.

Passengers can look forward to an iconic and architecturally impressive airport of the future.

Finnish nature as an inspiration for the architecture

Hansson added: “Finnish nature and craftsmanship are present from the spectacular ceiling of the entrance to the small details around the airport. The guiding principle of the billion-euro development programme is Finnishness. The domestic content of the development programme is 90 per cent.”

The unique wooden ceiling completely revamps the facade of Helsinki Airport. One of the inspirations for the wavy form of the ceiling was Tapio Wirkkala’s Ultima Thule sculpture that is made of aircraft plywood.

Luoto, a nature-themed stone arrangement greeting arriving passengers, also breathes Finnishness. The stone arrangement brings Finnish nature and archipelago spirit to the heart of a busy terminal.

The multi-modal travel centre as a transport hub

The urban travel centre, which will be completed at Helsinki Airport, is a hub for different modes of transport, to which air traffic will be connected.

“Finavia’s goal is to continuously develop better connections to the rest of the world. It is important that all modes of transport are seamlessly linked at the airport and that passengers can use the new travel centre to continue their journey using both local and long-distance buses, trains, taxis or private cars, not forgetting bicycles,” continued Hansson.

At the same time, new parking arrangements will also be introduced when the new parking hall P1 / P2 opens. This will create 1,800 new parking spaces and 200 new charging stations for electric cars at the airport, in the immediate vicinity of the terminal.

Terminal Two extension will open in three stages

Here is how the opening of Terminal Two will proceed:

In 100 days, on 1 December 2021, the entrance, arrivals hall and multimodal travel centre will be opened, in addition to the new traffic arrangements and the parking halls.

New check-in points and a new security control area will be opened between March to June 2022. At the same time, part of the Schengen gate area will be completed.

In the summer of 2023, new baggage drop facilities will be completed, as well as the updating of services in the Schengen gate area.

The aim of the investment programme is to strengthen the position of Helsinki Airport as a hub for air traffic between the EU and Asia. As Helsinki Airport has become one of the most important airports in the EU, the development of wide-body aircraft traffic and the conditions for it is one of the key goals outlined in Finavia’s investment programme.

Finavia’s investment programme in a nutshell

• Terminal floor area increased by 45 per cent (103,000m²), corresponding to an area the size of the Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki. The total area of the terminal in the early 2020s will be more than 250,000m², about 10 times the size of the Finnish Parliament Houses.
• More bridge gates for airplanes: eight gates for wide-body aircraft (an increase of 100 per cent), four gates for narrow-body aircraft (an increase of 15 per cent)
• Luggage handling capacity increased by 50 per cent
• Passport control capacity increased by 50 per cent
• Renovated apron area (aircraft parking areas and taxiways) amounts to 450,000m², corresponding to an area of around 90 football fields.
• Expansion of parking hall P5 (3,000 parking spaces) and a new parking hall (1,800 parking spaces)
• A new multimodal travel centre that links different modes of transport.
• Finavia’s investment: approximately €1 billion
• The employment impact of the investment programme during construction is 16,600 person-years.
• The domestic content of the investment programme is 90 per cent.