The safety zones at the ends of the runways will be extended in connection with the repaving work. The costs of the repairs will amount to over one million euros.
Due to the repaving work, Joensuu Airport will be closed for approximately three weeks from late June to July. The exact dates will be determined in early 2021 and announced on Joensuu Airport’s website.
“We will schedule the most difficult phases of the work for the middle of the summer when the airport has fewer flights than at other times. However, we have included the Ilosaarirock festival, which is organised in July, in the planning, and the airport will reopen before the event,” says Mari Nurminen, Vice President, Central and Eastern Finland Airports at Finavia.
According to Nurminen, the start of the runway and taxiway repaving was initially planned for the summer 2020. The renovation was pushed forward by a year due to the tighter financial situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finnair will fly to Helsinki via Kuopio twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays until the end of March. After that, the state is supposed to organise Joensuu’s flight connections as a purchased traffic service until the end of 2021.
Since November, the airline JS Aviation has also operated between Joensuu and Kuopio.
In April–October 2020, there were no flights to Joensuu Airport due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January–November 2020, a little over 21,000 passengers passed through Joensuu Airport, which is almost 82 per cent less than during the corresponding period in the previous year.
Read how Finavia develops its airports.
