Celebrated Finnish professional skateboarder Arto Saari and his crew will hold the Arto Saari Invitational, which gathers skaters from Asia and Europe to share their passion and show off their skills at a one-of-a-kind, pop-up skate park on the airport grounds.
Helsinki Airport has emerged as major transfer hub between Asia and Europe, and 15 million passengers use the airport every year.
"Airports are often seen as stressful environments, and we have always wanted to show that Helsinki Airport is different. This fun and exciting event is a part of that, and it also enables us to show the benefits - such as speed - that Helsinki has to offer for transfer passengers," says Finavia’s SVP and Director of Helsinki Airport Ville Haapasaari.
"Finnair aims to double the revenues of its Asian traffic via Helsinki by 2020, and with this event, we wanted to highlight the benefits of Helsinki Airport in a new way - by showing the Airport through the eyes of skateboarders", says Jarkko Konttinen, VP for Marketing and Product at Finnair. “The airport is part of the journey - a place to play, have fun and go somewhere you’ve never been before. That’s why we invited Arto and his crew to come and reimagine this familiar environment.”
To apply for the Invitational, skateboarders around the world are asked to share their skate videos at matchmadeinHEL.com. Arto and his crew will then invite four entrants from among the most popular to join them in HEL. Videos from the skateboarding sessions with all the behind-the-scenes details will be distributed via the Match Made in HEL YouTube channel and other social media channels to a global audience.
