Airport News

Airport News
Finnish airport operator, Finavia, has completed the €3 million renovation of the Tampere-Pirkkala Airport’s Terminal 2.

The revamp is designed to make the terminal's facilities more convenient and comfortable for international passengers and has been completed ahead of mid-April's resumption of international flights by low-cost carriers serving the gateway.

The renovation work at the terminal is part of Finavia’s extensive investment programme to develop Finland's central regional airports.

“Our objective is to make departures and arrivals easy and comfortable in Terminal 2, where the level of service will continue to be based on the requirements of low-cost airline operations,” states Mari Nurminen, Finavia’s airport manager at the Tampere-Pirkkala Airport.

Comfort and services at the airport have been improved by, for instance, streamlining various functions, enhancing the general look, and developing the café and shop services.

“The 210 square metre expansion of the terminal has allowed many improvements to general functionality, including the renovations of the facilities for arriving passengers and the space for customs. Instead of a conveyor belt, arriving passengers now receive their baggage on a carousel,” adds Nurminen.

The Information desk is now located in the departures/arrivals hall, and the Finnish Border Guard booths have been renovated and are now located in a more convenient spot near the common routes used by passengers.

The City of Tampere and the Tampere economic region have also participated in the investment project.

Simultaneously with the development work for T2, Finavia has implemented a €1 million environmental improvement project at Tampere-Pirkkala designed to improved the recovery of the propylene glycol used for de-icing, along with a storage area built for snow that contains glycol.

Kari Savolainen, Finavia’s CEO, notes: "After the renovations, the service level at Tampere-Pirkkala airport is higher than ever. We can serve airline traffic in two terminals, which creates numerous possibilities for developing the traffic.

"In order to ensure that the capacity of the airport is in full use, it is important that the municipalities and other actors in the region commit to developing airport traffic based on the actual demand.

"We need to find ways to improve and highlight the attractive factors in the region to bring foreign tourists and business people to the passenger flows."

Tampere-Pirkkala is the third busiest  airport in Finland, handling 412,609 passengers in 2014. 

Finavia currently has an extensive investment programme for its network of airports covering the years 2013–2015, the most extensive regional projects taking place at Ivalo, Turku and Tampere airpports.