Finavia: New solutions required for airport funding

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has today issued a press release announcing information concerning the cost structure of Finavia's airport network, and a pricing report. The report is related to the air traffic strategy prepared under the Ministry. The Finnish airport network is maintained according to the network principle. In this approach, the profit and loss of different airports are cross-subvented. The network deficit of provincial airports in 2011 was about 22 million euros. The loss is primarily caused by the low volume of air traffic in Finland. It is difficult to compare the results of individual airports because airport profit varies rapidly as routes and passenger volumes change. ”With Finavia's internal subvention, airport funding will become challenging in the next few years. We will continue to improve our cost-efficiency with determination, but no massive leaps can be achieved through that. In the future, we need to find new financial or cost-cutting solutions to maintain the competitiveness of services and infrastructure of the important means of transport in Finland. It is pivotal to Finland's financial success that, in addition to maintenance, Finavia is also genuinely capable of developing Helsinki Airport and its other main airports," says Kari Savolainen, Managing Director of Finavia. Finavia is actively contributing to the air traffic strategy project being carried out by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The project is part of the traffic policy report approved by the Finnish Parliament in spring 2012. The intention is to complete the strategy by the end of 2014. Finavia finds it important that the future operating preconditions of air traffic are outlined through extensive cooperation involving different operators.