“Our objective is to make departures and arrivals easy and comfortable in Terminal 2, where the level of service will continue to be based on the requirements of low-cost airline operations,” states Mari Nurminen, Finavia’s Airport Manager at the Tampere-Pirkkala airport.
Improvements based on travellers’ needs
Comfort and services at the airport have been improved by, for instance, streamlining various functions, enhancing the general look, and developing the café and shop services.
“The 210 square meter expansion of the terminal has allowed many improvements to general functionality, including the renovations of the facilities for arriving passengers and the space for customs. Instead of a conveyor belt, arriving passengers now receive their baggage on a carousel,” Nurminen explains happily.
The Information desk is now located in the departures/arrivals hall, and the Finnish Border Guard booths have been renovated and are now located in a more convenient spot near the common routes used by passengers.
The total investments to Tampere-Pirkkala airport amount to approximately EUR 3 million. The City of Tampere and the Tampere economic region have also participated in the investment project.
Simultaneously with the development work for T2, Finavia has implemented an environmental improvement project at Tampere-Pirkkala: the achievements of the project include improved recovery of the propylene glycol used for de-icing, along with a storage area built for snow that contains glycol. Finavia has invested EUR 1 million in this project.
Air traffic development requires co-operation
Services and functions at T2 at Tampere-Pirkkala have been renewed in order to be able to cater to the needs of air travel passengers in a competitive and cost-efficient manner also in the future.
“Finavia aims to keep the services at its airports competitive, while keeping the rates attractive to airline companies. An excellent airport alone will not create air travel; the development of air connections is dependent on the actual demand; in other words, there must be enough passengers. Regional co-operation plays a significant role in creating demand,” explains Kari Savolainen, Finavia’s CEO.
“After the renovations, the service level at Tampere-Pirkkala airport is higher than ever. We can serve airline traffic in two terminals, which creates numerous possibilities for developing the traffic. In order to ensure that the capacity of the airport is in full use, it is important that the municipalities and other actors in the region commit to developing airport traffic based on the actual demand. We need to find ways to improve and highlight the attractive factors in the region to bring foreign tourists and business people to the passenger flows,” says Savolainen.
Tampere-Pirkkala is the third busiest airport in Finland when measured by the number of passengers. In 2014, a total of 412,609 air travel passengers used Tampere-Pirkkala airport. In recent years, passenger numbers have suffered an annual decrease of approximately 10 per cent.
Finavia’s investment program to continue in 2015
Finavia currently has an extensive investment program for its network of airports; the program covers the years 2013–2015. The most extensive projects were launched in 2014 at the airports in Ivalo, Turku and Tampere.
In 2015, approximately EUR 25 million will be invested in the network’s airports; the estimated impact on employment is 350 person-years. The entire investment program creates nearly 1,700 person-years’ worth of employment in the surrounding areas of the central regional airports.
The World Economic Forum has assessed the Finnish airport network to be fifth best in the world.https://www.finavia.fi/en/news-room/news/2014/world-economic-forum-report-quality-of-air-transport-infrastructure-in-finland-among-world-s-best/
Finavia supports air traffic by low-cost airport charges and by offering discounts on new routes.https://www.finavia.fi/en/airlines/airport-charges-and-conditions/
Pictures of the renovated Terminal 2:
http://finavia.materialbank.net/NiboWEB/finavia/showCartPublicContent.do?uuid=7339863&random=492559&lang=fi
