Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL)

New routes and frequency possibilities and why these routes would work

Scandinavia
Bergen Stavanger Aarhus
There is good potential from the following cities: Bergen (BGO), Stravanger (SVG, Norway) and Aarhus AAR - Denmark). In Addition to the O&D market there is an even greater feeder potential using HEL as a hub to Russia and Asia, since there are no direct connections to any Asian destination from BGO and SVG. Therefore for example Thailand and China could be served via Helsinki. (Norway – Thailand 169,000 and China with 102,000 annual passengers).
Europe
Nice
Nice is the second most popular city among tourists after Paris. Annual market to Nice from Finland was 61,190 of which 31,286 were indirect. Seasonal demand is considerably higher than the offered flight volumes. Furthermore there is an excellent feeder potential to Asian and Japanese destinations via Helsinki.
Lyon
Lyon is one of the unserved destinations, which could offer smooth connections to Asia via Helsinki.
Lisbon (a hub to South America)
The annual market in 2007 was 53, 448 passengers from Finland to Lisbon, of which nearly 60% (31, 318) passengers flew indirectly. Besides the basic volume, Lisbon has a great connectivity value serving Portugal and beyond and as hub to South America.
Athens
Athens has been a popular destination for travellers since antiquity and it attracted a total of 50,957 passengers divided between to 28,182 direct and 22,775 indirect. Connections to Greek leisure destinations are available from the airport of Athens. The total passenger volume on charter flights was 229,700 from Finland to Greece (2007) mainly travelling to the numerous holiday resorts.
Spain
Barcelona Malaga Madrid
Spain is in the hearts of Finns. There were 609,964 passengers to Spain in 2007. The top three destinations are Barcelona (190,101), Malaga (137,077) and Madrid (60,125) of which MAD is also a noteworthy hub to South American destinations.
USA
Annual market from Finland to USA is 305,034 passengers of which 266,022 travel indirectly. The main destinations for the indirect routes are NYC, MIA, SFO and ORD.
New York
Direct flights from Helsinki to NYC carry some 73,000 passengers, of which 21,211 passengers flew indirectly.
Miami
Miami is the largest unserved destination. 29,028 O&D trips were made indirectly in 2007.
San Francisco
San Francisco offers a market size of 21,493 – being the second biggest unserved route in the US from Helsinki.
Chicago
Chicago attracts 18,652 indirect passengers per year.
Helsinki offers a convenient route to Eastern European and Russian markets. Helsinki is on the flight path between the US and major Russian economic centres such as St. Petersburg, Moscow and Yekaterinburg. Connections to Russia from Helsinki are growing.
Asia
Bangkok Phuket
The fastest route to Asia goes over Helsinki

Asia’s business, travel and tourism is growing with leaps. There were 500,687 O&D trips made to China, Japan, South-East Asia and further to Australia.

To Bangkok there were 120,953 passengers with scheduled flights of which 36,226 travelled indirectly. In addition to Bangkok, Phuket (HKT) attracted more than 40,000 indirect and 70,000 charter passengers.
Kuala Lumpur
It would be the shortest and smoothest route to travel to these destinations via Helsinki. Currently there is no direct flight to these destinations.
Singapore - Ho Chi Minh city (SGN)
Singapore is one of the most popular unserved routes between Finland and Asia. Between Helsinki and Singapore 18,367 passengers flew indirectly.

Other Major reasons to serve this airport

Images of Helsinki
  • HEL is the hub for Finland’s 5.3 million population and gateway to the other 24 airports in Finland. The majority of population is packed into southern Finland, so the total catchment area consists of 3.5 million inhabitants. www.locationguide.fi
  • Within 30 min – 1 hour, the Helsinki metropolitan area has 1.25 million people.
  • Passenger distribution: 52% business,38% leisure,10% VFR (Flight passenger survey Jan-May 2008, Statistics Finland).
Kioski at Helsinki Airport
  • Straightest route from Europe to Asia via Helsinki-Vantaa. The Via Helsinki service concept guarantees a swift and smooth journey. www.viahelsinki.com
  • Good SLOT availability. For available slots, please visit www.online-coordination.com and www.helslot.fi
  • Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is known for the high quality and reliability of its modern services. We have been ranked at the top of the league in Europe in passenger surveys (ASQ) for 10 years running.
  • Helsinki city centre is only 30 minutes from HEL: The Airport buses run every 10 minutes from early morning to late night seven days a week.
  • Helsinki-Vantaa has been “a green approach airport” already for years. 20% of current flights can benefit from CDA concept and the number is increasing.
  • Minimum connecting time in Helsinki-Vantaa is 35 minutes for int/int and dom/int
  • HEL is competitively priced among European airports. (Airport Charges Monitor 2008).
  • Free of charge use of self service check-in kiosks
  • Third party handling services at competitive prices. There are four handling agents to choose from: http://www.finavia.fi/ground_handling_services
  • The Helsinki area is the region in Finland which global corporations usually choose for their headquarters. Nokia, Kone, TietoEnator and Neste Oil, just to name few of them
Images of Helsinki

Marketing and other support

Finavia Helsinki-Vantaa offers a wide range of support to airline partners:

  • Start-up support: For new routes (unserved airport pairs) a 3 year discount programme applicable to all carriers.
Discounts at Helsinki-Vantaa airport
Landing Charges Passenger Charges
Year 1 90% Discount 70% Discount
Year 2 70% Discount -
Year 3 50% Discount -
  • Market information: statistics (MITD) and passenger surveys on request.
  • PR support: inaugural flights and activities for press, passengers and VIPs, etc.
  • Consultation in planning and realising the route marketing possibilities both in Helsinki region and Finland
  • Airport Marketing: We make tailor made marketing support packages including airport marketing and web marketing among other things.
  • Reception at the gate for the inaugural flight to celebrate the new route with the airline and the first passengers
  • Joint promotions
  • Please check our promotion policy at http://www.finavia.fi/Marketing_Co-operation

Helsinki Region and Finland

Finavia works in close co-operation with the following organisations, which are keen to contribute to your route development and make it successful:

  • Visit Finland by MEK
    MEK supports tourism industry businesses and groups in developing and marketing tourism services for the international market. MEK’s funding comes from the state budget, with €16 million budgeted for 2007. In addition, the Finnish tourism industry is estimated to contribute approximately €2 million to tourism marketing annually.
  • Visit Helsinki
    Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau markets Helsinki as a travel destination and develops travel services with local businesses. It also represents Helsinki at international travel fairs and organises familiarisation tours for travel organisers and media representatives.
  • Greater Helsinki Promotion
    A publicly funded company supporting international professionals and companies by promoting all that the region has to offer.
  • Invest in Finland
    Invest in Finland offers a full set of professional, hands-on investment services that are always tailored according to your specific needs. The services cover every stage of setting up a business in Finland, ranging from initial data collection and opportunity analysis to networking and the actual business launch.

Catchment Area

Helsinki Catchment Area Map

Click map to enlarge

  • Catchment area: 3.5 million Inhabitants within 2 hours
  • Within 30 min – 1 hour, the Helsinki metropolitan area has 1.25 million people
  • Helsinki-Vantaa caters 20 domestic destinations
  • Access to Tallinn (Estonia)
    • 10 daily flights
    • 90mins ferry connection (20 daily)
  • Access to St. Petersburg (Russia)
    • St. Petersburg metropolitan area 7 million
    • 20 weekly flights from LED (28 as per 2009)
    • Good railway and bus connections to HEL
    • 2010 high speed train LED-HEL. Travel time target 3 hours. Seamless travel ensured by conducting the passport control in the train.
    • 399 000 railway passengers (+18,4% increase to previous year) between Finland and Russian (2007).
    • Over 1,2 million visitors from Russia (2008). The number of visitors continued to grow by 13%

Under-served freight opportunities and other economic impact factors

  • Freight: 145,481 tons. Grand total all airports freight and mail 154,801 tons.

Please contact route development contact for further information.

Geography

  • Getting from Helsinki-Vantaa airport into Helsinki city is very easy. There are buses running every 10 minutes from early morning to late evening. It is only a 30min drive from the airport to the city center.
  • Helsinki-Vantaa has an extensive regional and long distance bus network. Airport will be connected to the railway network in 2013

Helsinki transportation images

Infrastructure & Operations:

  • Terminals: 2 terminals; domestic and international terminal. Extension of the international terminal to be completed in autumn 2009.
  • Min. connect time: 35 minutes for both international and domestic flights
  • Important infrastructure developments and/or other news

  • In autumn 2009 the extension of the Helsinki-Vantaa’s International Terminal and the new baggage handling centre will be completed.
  • The investment is the biggest in Finavia’s history. The total cost estimate of the project is EUR 143 million, of which over half will be invested in the new baggage handling centre. The new extension will comprise a total of 39,000 m².
  • The new terminal extension will pamper customers with its luxurious via.Helsinki Wellness & Spa centre with high class meeting facilities, elegant top brand shops and restaurants.
  • The extension will enhance easy connections and one terminal concept.
  • After the extension, the terminal will be able to handle 16 million passengers (an increase of 30%) and 13.5 million baggage items (an increase of 43%) per year.

Helsinki Airport development

Vital statistics

  • Total passenger 2008: 13,443,446 (grand total all airports 17,552,486)
International traffic Total: 10,743,077
Scheduled: 9,598,292
Charter: 1,141,907
General aviation: 2,878
Domestic traffic 2,700,369
Passenger distribution Business: 46.0%
Leisure: 40.9%
VFR: 13.14%
Country of residence

Finland: 60%
Other EU country:  26%
Non-EU country: 14%

Flight passenger survey 1.1. - 31/5/2008

Financials

KEY FACTS

Route Development Contacts

Kimmo Ruotsalainen (email)
Marketing Director
Mob: + 358 40 71 77 95 4

Timo Järvelä, (email)
Marketing Manager
Mob: +358 40 71 72 73 1

Kimmo Holopainen (email)
Business Development Manager LCC
Mob: +358 400 99 55 28

Thomas Kingelin (email)
Sales Manager, Incoming
Mob: +358 400 99 55 26

Johanna Metsälä (email)
marketing communications
Mob: +358 9 8277 2381

Position
Air Service Development Team
Address
Lentäjäntie 3,
P.O Box 50,
01531 Vantaa,
FINLAND
Contact
Website
Helsinki Airport Website