Helsinki Vantaa Airport Guide

Helsinki Airport is Finland's main international gateway, located in Vantaa, 20 kilometres north of Helsinki city centre. Operated by state-owned Finavia, it is the busiest airport in Finland and the fourth busiest in the Nordic countries by passenger volume. In 2024 it handled 16.3 million passengers across 150,080 commercial aircraft movements.

The airport has operated from its current site since 1952, initially built to serve the Helsinki Summer Olympics. A single unified passenger terminal has been in use since June 2022, when the previous two-terminal layout was merged. The terminal is divided into Schengen (gates 5–36) and non-Schengen (gates 37–55) sections. Three runways support the operation, the longest measuring 3,500 metres.

Finnair dominates traffic, accounting for around 75% of seat capacity and using Helsinki as its primary hub, particularly for Europe–Asia routes. The airport's role as a Asia transit point has been constrained since the closure of Russian airspace in February 2022, contributing to passenger numbers remaining 25% below the 2019 peak of 26 million. The Ring Rail Line connects the terminal to Helsinki Central Station in approximately 30 minutes.