Helsinki is a vibrant seaside city of beautiful islands and great green urban areas. Helsinki is the largest city in Finland and the metropolitan area is the home of 1.4 million people.

The Helsinki metropolitan area is the most popular travel area with a majority share of all foreign overnights spent in Finland. In 2022, the number of overnights totaled 3.7 million. The Helsinki area is getting more and more popular among the leisure travelers, especially during the summer months.

Essential three points

  • Internationality: 73,000 foreign residents and 18% of population with a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish
  • Average length of stay 1.8 nights for international visitors
  • Point-to-point traffic split: 55% leisure travelers, 28% business travelers, 12% visiting friends and relatives, 5% other.

Source: Helsinki facts and figures 2023, City of Helsinki.

Helsinki Airport

Helsinki Airport is the leading transfer airport in Northern Europe and the largest airport in Finland. In 2023, 15,3 million people traveled through Helsinki Airport. Pre-Covid-19 the amount was more than 22 million.

Helsinki Airport’s strengths combine excellent operations with cost efficiency, We want to maintain these strengths even as the number of passengers grow. Thanks to Finavia's Helsinki Airport Development Programme, the airport terminal floor area has expanded to 250,000 m2 and the airport now is able to service up to 30 million passengers each year.

Helsinki Airport Development Programme in a nutshell

  • Terminal floor area: more than 250,000 m2 (+45%)
  • Baggage handling capacity: +50%
  • Passport control capacity: +50%
  • Extension of P5 car park: + 3,000 spaces
  • New P1/P2 car park: +1,800 spaces
  • Electric car ports: +300 spaces
  • Infrastructure reforms on the apron level: 450,000 m2
  • New bridge gates for wide-body aircraft: 8 (+100%)
  • New bridge gates for narrow-body aircraft: 4 (+15%)
  • A multimodal travel centre links different modes of transport.
Map with all Finavia airports locations