The expansion project of Helsinki Airport is well under way. The construction site of the terminal's south wing was busy when the staff of Meidän kenttä visited the site in mid-February.
"The work for south wing has progressed as scheduled. Currently, we are building the stone floors, preparing sanitary facilities and technical rooms and installing building services. Ventilation machines have already been hauled to the engine rooms," says the Project Manager of the south wing's construction project, Esa-Pekka Timonen from Finavia.
In connection to the terminal expansion, the Helsinki Airport will also have its first travelators, i.e. moving walkways, that make moving around faster for the passengers. The first travelator has just been installed in the south wing, on the floor of arriving passengers.
"When completed, the south wing will be around 200 metres long. We want to make moving around the airport faster for our passengers, especially those arriving at the airport from a flight. That is why the travelator has been installed in the floor of arriving passengers. Later on, travelators will also be installed in other expansion sites of the terminal," says Timonen.
The south wing will be completed in summer 2017.
At the same time, the construction work for the west wing is in progress. It is estimated that west wing's first phase, the so-called central plaza, will be completed towards the end of 2018. The entire expansion will be completed in 2020. At the time, the airport will be able to serve up to 20 million passengers annually.
The development programme in a nutshell
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The terminal extension will total over 100,000 m2, the size of the Linnanmäki amusement park.
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In 2020, the surface area of the terminals will be more than 250,000 square metres. A total of 10 duplicates of the Parliament House of Finland would fit in the terminal.
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In total, 330,000 square metres of the apron area will be renewed. The surface area equals that of 65 football fields.
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The number of bridge spots for wide-bodied aircraft will double from the current eight to 16.
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Luggage handling capacity will increase by 50%.
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The total surface area of the airport is 1,800 hectares. If the airport were placed on the centre of Helsinki, it would reach from Kaisaniemi to Katajanokka and Töölö.
