Finnish air traffic has had a strong start to the year, which has consisted in particular of the growth of international traffic. The growth of international tourism in Lapland is divided into direct flights from abroad and transfer traffic via Helsinki Airport. Current forecasts indicate that airline operations to Lapland will increase by 4–8%, while passenger numbers are expected to grow by 5–10% during the winter season.
Finavia believes that the growth of tourism in Lapland will continue in the coming years and has prepared for the growing demand in the long term. This year, the company has invested in the infrastructure of Lapland’s airports, developed its operations and processes and recruited seasonal employees to ensure smooth service during the busiest tourism seasons. Continuous development work ensures that Lapland’s airports are able to serve passengers, airlines and companies operating at the airports efficiently even as the number of passengers increases.
”We believe that tourism in Lapland will continue to grow, which is why we are developing our airports proactively. Through investments, personnel resources and the continuous development of processes, we will ensure that Lapland’s airports are able to meet the growing demand and offer a smooth travel experience even during periods of high demand,” says Henri Hansson, Finavia’s Senior Vice President, Airport Network.
Winter season recruitments have been successfully completed
In June, Finavia opened a total of 120 positions at Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo and Kuusamo airports, which is 20 per cent more than last year. There were nearly 60 per cent more applicants for the open positions than in 2025. With the recruitments, Finavia’s number of employees at these airports will more than double for the winter season. Again this year, there will be many people among the seasonal employees who have worked at Finavia in previous years. In addition, there will be many new employees among the winter workers for whom the airport is one of the first jobs in their careers.
”Recruitment for the winter season was highly successful. The open positions generated substantial interest, attracting a total of 460 applications. This enabled us to recruit the required number of new employees to reinforce our teams and ensure smooth and efficient operations throughout the busy winter season,” says Henri Hansson.
The customer experience of passengers, smoothness and airline customers have been taken into account in investments and development work
Passenger numbers at Lapland airports are forecast to grow by 5–10% during the upcoming winter season. Due to the increased number of operations, during the 2025–2026 winter season, Rovaniemi and Kittilä airports switched to slot coordination, in which an external party distributes arrival and departure times to airlines. With the slot coordination, the arrival and departure times of flights have now been determined so that the airport’s capacity and the resources of the companies operating at the airport are sufficient to serve each flight.
”Slot coordination has worked well. It spreads air traffic more evenly over different hours of the day, which prevents air traffic congestion. Transitioning to international slot coordination has been praised by airline customers,” says Henri Hansson.
In addition to developing operations, Finavia has also developed the infrastructure of Lapland’s airports during the year. An alteration project for ground traffic was completed at Rovaniemi Airport in September. During the expansion work in the ground traffic area, a completely new parking area of approximately 4,000 square metres was built in front of the airport for the long-term parking needs of 130 passenger cars. In addition, the area reserved for contract taxis was developed so that taxi, bus and private car traffic can operate efficiently in adjacent areas in front of the airport. In addition to increasing parking spaces, the aim of the alteration work is to streamline vehicle traffic in front of the airport.
Also, areas and services reserved for air traffic have been developed at Rovaniemi Airport this year, and the check-in self-service machines at Rovaniemi and Kittilä airports were renewed. Self-service machines allow passengers to check in independently and print the baggage tags required for checked baggage. In addition, new bag drop machines were installed at Ivalo Airport, which passengers can use independently before their flight. In addition to the self-service machines, passengers can use the airlines’ check-in and bag drop points, where customer service personnel work.
The aim is to maintain the punctuality of airport operations at the current level
Airports around the world measure their own punctuality. The punctuality of air traffic is also measured. Finavia’s data for 2023–2026 shows that the punctuality of Finavia’s operations at Lapland’s airports has remained at a very high annual level, typically at 98–100 per cent. The busy winter season and challenging weather conditions have also been taken into account in the figures. This consistently strong performance shows that despite heavy snowfall and the ongoing runway maintenance operations, airports have a very low impact on air traffic delays.
”In the 2025–2026 winter season, when the number of passengers reached a new record at Rovaniemi Airport, the airport’s punctuality was even higher than in the previous year. In addition, we were able to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, which is our goal despite the growth," says Henri Hansson, Finavia’s Senior Vice President, Airport Network.
Read more:
Finavia’s winter season recruitments
Listing: Where can you fly from Finavia airports during the winter season 2026-2027
Winter season brings even stronger air connectivity for Finland | Finavia