Finavia airports handle 15.9 million passengers in January–September, up 6.1%

Finnish airport operator Finavia handled 15.9 million passengers at its airports between January and September 2026, an increase of 6.1% on the same period last year, according to the business review it published on 3 November. In the third quarter alone, passenger numbers rose 5.5% to 5.4 million.

Helsinki Airport handled 4.9 million passengers in July–September, also up 5.5%, with international traffic reaching 4.5 million. The share of transfer passengers among departing travellers rose from 33.4% to 34.7%, which Finavia attributes to new routes to Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe. Its regional airports grew 6.4% to 531,000 passengers in the quarter, mainly on international traffic, while the Lapland tourism airports fell 5.7% to 132,000.

For the coming Christmas season, Finavia expects Lapland passenger numbers to rise by 5–10% year on year and says it has recruited a record of about 460 seasonal staff. It also reports completed work at Rovaniemi, where ground traffic was reorganised and parking expanded, and at Tampere-Pirkkala, where the approach lighting system was replaced in early September.

Finavia expects passenger demand to keep developing positively for the rest of 2026, but lists geopolitical crises, including in the Middle East and Russian airspace restrictions, fuel market volatility and the general economy as risks. It says fuel supply at its airports is currently stable. A seasonal forecast is not a guarantee of seats on any particular flight to Lapland.