‍At Routes World 2024, we discussed Finavia’s challenges and strategy with Petri Vuori, Senior Vice President, Sales and Route Development. The Finnish company manages and develops 20 airports around the country. In 2023, the Finnish airport system welcomed 18.3 million passengers, with over 15.3 traveling through Helsinki Vantaa (HEL). 

Q: Recently, we've seen resilience in the East Asian night network. What is your forecast for future traffic?

A: It's been tough because, just when we thought things might return to normal, new challenges emerged, like the conflict in Ukraine. This conflict didn’t just affect certain areas—it impacted the whole world. Some carriers, like Finnair, had to adapt by grounding parts of their fleet, leasing some planes, or adjusting operations, like maintaining narrow-body aircraft for British Airways.

In the short term, this was challenging for the airport because that traffic moved out of our reach. However, in the long term, I think we benefit from them keeping their fleet active, even with adjustments. Although we didn’t have any immediate help from this, it’s positive that they kept their capacity intact.

Q: Has anything surprised you about traffic patterns?

A: Absolutely. Winter traffic has surprised us for the past two seasons, and will likely do so again. There's continuous growth, especially in leisure travel, which wasn't always the case. Now, there’s much more interest in leisure travel to Europe. Historically, Germany’s market was more corporate and domestic, but now leisure travel has gained a strong foothold, driven by European operators.

Q: How has this impacted the airport’s role and strategy?

A: Originally, we built the airport as a hub between Europe and Asia, catering to both corporate and business travel. Now, we see a shift more toward point-to-point leisure travel within Europe. Internally, we’ve had discussions about the need for some physical changes to the airport layout. The customer base has changed significantly—there are fewer high-spending travelers from China, Russia, Korea, and Japan—so we’ve adjusted our offerings. Now, there's a more fluid layout with more cafeterias and fewer retail and duty-free shops.

Q: What about regional development, like in Tampere? How does it fit in?

A: Tampere is about 100 kilometers from Helsinki, and we've seen investments in leisure travel options there to Southern Europe. Right now, we have two key carriers driving interest: Ryanair has a base there, and Norwegian has increased its presence. A few years back, Air Baltic added a base there with one aircraft, which they’ve adapted over time to target the best routes for leisure travel.

Given Tampere’s proximity to Helsinki, it creates a bit of a challenge, but it’s great to have a mix of price points and products for various communities. People now have choices and there’s more flexibility.

Q: Is there more development for low-cost carriers in the leisure market?

A: Yes, the demand is growing, particularly for low-cost leisure travel, as fuel prices and operational costs fluctuate. It’s a positive development to see growth in this sector, with carriers catering to budget-conscious travelers. We hope that next summer, demand for leisure travel will be strong again.