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The first passengers departed from the newly renovated Tampere Airport on an Air Baltic aircraft early this morning

Press release
Article published
13.8.2018 at 10:47
Tampere-Pirkkala kiitotie
Responsibility Travel
Finavia’s development and modernisation project of several months has been completed at Tampere Airport. An investment of more than EUR 17 million, the project increases the airport’s capacity and thus contributes to the vibrance and accessibility of the entire Pirkanmaa region.
Tampere Airport
Tampere Airport

The first passengers arrived at the renovated Tampere Airport already in the early hours of the morning. They boarded Air Baltic which was the first scheduled flight to take off from the brand new runway 13 August at 5:25 a.m. The flight was BT358 towards Riga.

The early-morning passengers may have felt slightly less groggy as they arrived in the terminal, as Finavia greeted then with pastries and coffee to celebrate the airport’s opening.

“Our airport is in great shape now. We welcome all of Pirkanmaa to enjoy their fully modernised local airport. Tampere Airport has excellent connections to three important air traffic hubs: Helsinki, Riga and Stockholm. They offer passengers a fantastic range of connections to everywhere in the world. Direct flights from Tampere are available to Bremen, Budapest and, starting next autumn, Malaga,” explains Mari Nurminen, Airport Director and Area Manager at Finavia.

Tampere Airport

Finavia’s total investment in the renovation of Tampere Airport’s air traffic areas was more than EUR 17 million. Some EUR 15 million was used on expanding the apron and renewing the runway. In addition, the runway’s instrument landing system was renewed and precision approach procedures were improved for a sum of EUR 2 million.

“Thanks to the new, wider turn pads, we will be able to extend our services to wide-body aircraft. The modernisation project also included replacing the airport lights with energy-efficient LED lights and improving the recovery of anti-freeze agents and related soil protection. The new ILS devices improve air traffic’s possibilities to operate even in bad weather conditions,” Nurminen says.

Nurminen thanks the contractors for their good work and the airport customers for their flexibility. Most of the work was conducted in the middle of operating air traffic.

“Such an extensive development and modernisation project is always a tremendous effort, as completion is governed by tight schedules and work is conducted in challenging conditions,” Nurminen says.

The renovation started in April and was finished on 12 August. Military and general aviation begun their operations on the new runway already the same day.

Tampere Airport
Tampere Airport

Tampere Airport development and modernisation programme in a nutshell

Paved area

330,000 m² (50 football fields)

Apron expansion

22,000 m²

Two new runway turn pads

8,000 m²

Soil protection for de-icing

8,000 m²

New electricity and communications cables

10,000 m

Asphalt mass

60,000 tonnes

A new taxiway

150 m

New LED lights

150 lights

New glycol pump stations

2 stations

A new ILS system

1 system

Workers at the construction site

100 persons