'There can't be many places offering a runway view while you cool down on the sauna terrace', boasts Sari Päivärinta, the airport's Operations Manager.
Situated right next to the airport, the Mosquito outfitting station is often used by different travel service providers. Mosquito is a good place for groups to get changed as soon as they land and start their snowmobile or dog sledding adventures without wasting a moment.
'The building's upper floor houses a sauna and lounge facilities suitable for smaller groups. They can be rented for all sorts of events', Päivärinta explains.
Warmth from a real fire
A fireplace was built at Kuusamo Airport at the beginning of the '90s, and many memorable moments have been spent in its warmth.
'In the wintertime the fire was lit nearly every day, and the travellers enjoyed the real fire so much that we sometimes had to drive them away so they wouldn't miss their flights', Päivärinta remembers.
Renovation and extension works at the airport left the fireplace in the non-Schengen gate area, and it now can be enjoyed mainly during the winter charter season from December to February.
A good ol' hug
One of Kuusamo's most characteristic peculiarities must be 'a good ol' hug'.
The story involves a Finnair officer who came to meet the passengers of a scheduled flight from Helsinki sometime in the beginning of the '90s. The officer noticed a close friend among them, and obviously the friends hugged each other warmly and briefly caught up with each other.
In the queue of passengers stepping off the plane, a foreign gentleman followed the officer's friend. He proceeded to hug the officer as the other passenger had done, and wondered cautiously that it seemed to be a local custom. The officer didn't bat an eye and confirmed his assumption.
A few years later the same officer was again standing at the bottom of the stairs to receive passengers, when a gentleman came down with arms wide open, ready for a hug.
The officer didn't recognise him as that 'old friend' straight away, but still hugged him and his companions.
'So there – do you now believe that this is how passengers are welcomed in Kuusamo?' the gentleman asked his friends.
Since that time, there is an agreed policy to hug passengers, colleagues, and flight crew members alike in Kuusamo, that is, everybody who wants a hug and seems to be in need of one!
