When the German Julia Tillmann landed at Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, the woman from Düsseldorf, who arrived on the AY704, was surprised by Finnish airline Finnair, who welcomed her with a flower bouquet. Julia Tillmann was this year’s one millionth passenger, using Helsinki as a hub en route to Asia.

Its geographical position makes Helsinki-Vantaa the airport with the shortest and fastest flight routes between Europe and Asia and thus the most environmentally friendly flights. The investments in Asian air traffic since the turn of the millenium show constantly positive results, explained Paavo Virkkunen, Vice President Commercial Division, of Finnair.

Juha-Pekka Pysynen, Director of Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is equally satisfied with the development: „The close cooperation between Finavia and Finnair bore fruit. Helsinki-Vantaa has grown into one of the most important European transit airports.“ Finavia is the largest Finnish operator of airports and is currently running 25 of the total of 28 airports in Finland. They believe the shortest flight route and a non-overcrowded airport to be increasingly important criteria in the booking of flights by customers.

At the moment, more than 60 times a week, aircraft of Finnair operate between Helsinki and ten Asian destinations. An expansion of terminals next year is meant to primarily serve long distance flights and provide an even better business environment for transit traffic. The completed terminal expansion will have a capacity of 15 to 16 million passengers per year.
Finnair is currently flying from Helsinki to the destinations Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok and Seoul.