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Taxiway renovation at Helsinki Airport in summer 2016

Press release
Article published
21.3.2016 at 13:30
Archived
Runway on a clear day.
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Finavia will renovate the taxiways and the remote de-icing area of Helsinki Airport this summer. The renovation, launched in April 2016, is expected to be completed in October 2016. The operations or the capacity of the airport will not be affected by the renovation.

- The renovation will prepare the airport for a volume increase in air traffic and will ensure fluent, safe air traffic at the airport. Through Finavia's massive development project, which is in progress, we will prepare to serve 20 million customers in 2020. The infrastructure for our existing airline customers and new ones must be competitive and cost-effective, says Henri Hansson, technical director of Finavia.

Finavia will renovate taxiways Z and W and remote de-icing area 6. The taxiways and remote de-icing area will be milled and repaved. Some electricity and lighting systems will be replaced, and some sewers will be repaired.

- Taxiway W and the remote de-icing area were introduced 14 years ago; this is the first time they will be subject to renovation. Minor repairs were done on taxiway Z in 2007. The goal of the renovation is to extend taxiway life by up to 15 years, says Heini Noronen-Juhola, Helsinki Airport’s deputy director at Finavia.

At the same time, Finavia will add the finishing touches to the renovation performed on the crossing of runways 04R-15, i.e. runways 1 and 2 in summer 2015.

The renovation of the taxiways and the remote de-icing area will take place in stages. The work will begin in April 2016 and will take about six months. The value of the investment is almost EUR 17 million. The repaving will be implemented by Lemminkäinen Infra.

Air traffic capacity unaffected

The operations or the capacity of Helsinki Airport will not be affected by the renovation. All flights will be operated as usual.

The impact on runway access will be small, too. The work to be performed on the taxiways and the remote de-icing area will not affect runway access at all.

The finalisation at the crossing of runways 04R-15 will be completed in the night in late May and early June. At night time runway 3 will be available for landing and take-off during the finalisation. This will not have an impact on the fluency of air traffic, but the extent of aircraft noise in the Kerava direction in the night may be bigger than usual, especially in the Kerava city centre.

Runway use at Helsinki Airport

for 20 million passengers