Appropriate Hours, New Services

During the review year the CAA has endeavoured to adapt airport opening hours to each traffic situation. Service times are now fully aligned to meet civil aviation requirements. If opening hours were altered any more, the airlines would be forced to cut back on their service standards for certain routes, affecting first flights of the morning and late evening flights.

The CAA has responded to the growth demand for long haul flights and in summer began work on the expansion of the so-called non-Schengen terminal at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, at a cost of about 20 million euros. The expansion will be completed in the autumn of 2004 and will improve conditions particularly for long haul and long haul transfer passengers. A new “no-frills” policy, on the other hand is represented by the low-cost service concept embodied in the former cargo terminal at Tampere, developed by the CAA in conjunction with its subsidiary, Airpro Oy. Here, a number of aspects have been combined with a modest level of service to provide cheap basic airport services.

Tampere airport’s low-cost terminal is an example of the way the budget airlines operate in attracting new types of passengers. The terminal and its services are at the disposal, on the same terms, of all airlines that find its service standards acceptable. The price of these services is less than for the airport’s regular terminal.