“Our passenger volumes are now growing rapidly. New routes are being opened frequently at Helsinki Airport, and the number of flights to existing destinations is increasing. The increased amount of long-haul traffic opens many new routes to European and domestic destinations,” says Finavia’s Technical Director Henri Hansson.
Thanks to the rapid growth, the development of the Schengen area at the airport starts quickly. The extension with seven new departure gates will be built on the far end of Terminal 1. The added passenger area amounts to 3,350 square metres.
“The new facilities will be located on two floors. Thanks to the additional space, Terminal 1 will offer even more comfort and even better customer experience,” Hansson says.
Passengers will walk from the terminal to the plane and vice versa. The waiting areas for gates 8–11 will be on the second floor, and there will be an elevator and stair connection to the apron. The areas for gates 5-7 will be on the first floor, at aircraft parking level.
According to Hansson, the objective of the arrangement is to increase the efficiency of fleet usage. Passenger transport on buses between the terminal and the planes will be reduced. At the same time, the plane turnaround times will get shorter.
The new facilities will open in June 2019.
Finavia is investing 900 million euros in the development of Helsinki Airport
Helsinki Airport and its services are being enhanced in different areas of the airport. Up till now, the focus has been on the extension of the terminal section serving long-haul flights (non-Schengen traffic) and renovation of its apron.
Now, the development programme will move on to the development of Schengen traffic.
“In addition to the extension of Terminal 1, we plan to start the construction of the entrance to Terminal 2 and its arrival and departure halls in autumn next year. The project also involves extension of the area serving Schengen traffic,” Hansson says.
Helsinki Airport extension in a nutshell
- The terminal will be extended by a total of 103,000 square metres. It corresponds 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 250,000 square metres. The future terminal could accommodate 10 Finnish Parliament Houses.
- The number of bridge gates for wide-body aircraft will be doubled from 8 to 16.
- Baggage handling capacity will increase by 50 per cent.
- The apron, meaning the aircraft parking areas and taxiways, will be renovated over an area of 450,000 square metres. The size of the construction site is equal to 90 football pitches.
- The expansion will allow the airport to serve 30 million passengers annually.
The phases of the development programme
- Extensions of check-in and security control areas in T2 (completed in 2014).
- Extension 1 of non-Schengen flights (new gate area for bus transport, and extension of the transfer luggage system, completed in 2016).
- Extension 2 of non-Schengen flights (South Pier completed in 2017).
- Non-Schengen extension 3 (extension of border control in the planning, estimated completion 2018).
- Non-Schengen flights extension 4 (Plaza underway, will be completed in 2019).
- Schengen flights extension 1 (T1 underway, will be completed in 2019).
- Non-Schengen flights extension 5 (West Pier, will be completed in 2020).
- T2 entrance, arrival and departure lounges (in the planning, estimated completion in 2020).
- Schengen flights extension 2 in T2 (in the planning, estimated completion 2022).
