A hundred reasons to visit
Rovaniemi Airport serves both business and leisure travellers. Domestic passengers are clearly the biggest passenger group, although the percentage of international air-passengers is rapidly growing. Santa Claus and the northern lights in particular draw tourists to Rovaniemi.
Versatility makes Rovaniemi a compelling travel destination. In Rovaniemi you have the opportunity to enjoy the arctic nature, typical Lapland activities such as reindeer-drawn sleigh ride or a snow mobile safari, as well as an urban holiday – with an arctic twist of course.
The comprehensive cultural offering of Rovaniemi ranges from international DJ gigs to Sami handcraft workshops.
Architecture and design
In Rovaniemi there are several major features designed by Alvar Aalto, one of Finland’s foremost architects, and the city as a whole is architecturally interesting. The oldest cable-stayed bridge in Finland, the Jätkänkynttilä Bridge ("Lumberjack's Candle"), is absolutely a stunning, especially when lit at night.
Finnish architecture, art and design play an important role also at the airport: The terminal building is designed by two internationally recognized Finnish architects Mikko Heikkinen and Markku Komonen.
Lamps made of Finnish birch by Secto Design and the antler lamps that radiate Lappish mystic decorate the ceilings.
The terminal floor features an installation ”Earth’s orbit” by artist Antti Laurila, which has been carved in Lapland’s hard granite.
Small but efficient
– The airport felt familiar even though I hadn’t been there before. It felt as if arriving at a smaller version of Helsinki Airport, describes passenger Aki Toivonen his visit to Rovaniemi.
Toivonen was brought to Rovaniemi by a business meeting. Airplane was an obvious means of transport for the Helsinki based professional, because minimizing travel time was important from the company point-of-view.
Speed was an attribute Toivonen mentioned when asked about the service of Rovaniemi Airport, alongside with tidiness.
Smooth operations and comfort are factors that Finavia has also invested in. The interiors of the airport were renovated in 2015, where as the air traffic areas were renewed in Summer 2016. The runway renovation was approximately a 13 million investment for Finavia.
– The renovation was carried out to make sure that air traffic to the north is effective and to enable good preconditions for the growth of air traffic in Lapland, says Joni Sundelin, director at Finavia.
Energy efficiency in focus
During the renovation the runway lightning was replaced with LED technology, which significantly improved the energy efficiency of the airport. Rovaniemi Airport is part of the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme of the ACI together with Helsinki Airport and other Lapland Airports.
New connections, new opportunities
According to director Joni Sundelin from Finavia the long-term marketing as well as the development work of the Lapland destinations have notably increased the demand of Lapland trips. This is something also the airlines have noticed: seven new flight connections were opened to Lapland this winter season.
Norwegian launched a direct connection from London to Rovaniemi, and Germania started flights from Zürich to Rovaniemi.
Smooth travelling all the way to your final destination
Transfer from airport to your final destination has been made as convenient as possible. A bus takes you from the airport to the city centre, which is located only 10 kilometres away.
Getting to many attractions is also easy: an express line takes those who are eager to meet the Santa to the Santa Claus Village in only 10 minutes. Ski addicts can hop on a ski bus which operates between the airport and the ski resorts of Pyhä and Luosto.
Rovaniemi Airport is the official airport of Santa Claus.
