Helsinki-Uusimaa calls for EU recognition of the effects of the Russian airspace closure
The Russian airspace closure has had its consequences for European airlines. The number of passengers at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is also yet to recover from the dip due to COVID-19.
While most major airports in Europe have reached or surpassed pre-covid numbers, Helsinki-Vantaa reported 16,3 million passengers for the year 2024. This is around 25 % less than in the year 2019, when 21,9 million passengers passed through the airport.
– The drop in passenger numbers at Helsinki-Vantaa has a negative effect on the development of the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region, as well as for the whole of Finland. Missing passengers include incoming tourists, but also business passengers that have used Helsinki-Vantaa as a gateway between Europe and Asia. This has boosted the region’s attractiveness, the Regional Mayor, Ms Tuija Telén, comments.
As a result of the Russian airspace closure, Finnair, i.e. the national carrier, has had to cut many of its routes to Asia, as its airplanes are forced to circumvent Russia. This gives non-European airlines still using the Russian airspace for their connections to Europe, a competitive edge.
Locally, the loss of connections has had a negative effect on Vantaa, the city that hosts the airport.
Vantaa has invested heavily on the development of the airport ecosystem
Pekka Timonen, Mayor of Vantaa
“The Helsinki-Vantaa airport ecosystem comprises roughly 3 % of Finland’s national GDP”, Timonen adds. The airport and the adjacent Aviapolis economic area have roughly 42.000 working on site.
CPMR and Helsinki-Uusimaa encourage the Commission to reassess some of its aviation related policies
Currently, the European Union is revising its rules for state aid. In an ongoing public consultation on state aid, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) calls on the EU to revise its aviation guidelines. THE CPMR brings together 160 regions from 24 states. The region Helsinki-Uusimaa supports the CPMR’s position.
For Helsinki-Uusimaa at least two different topics in the ongoing consultation are of critical importance. These are the eligibility criteria for state aid and the definition of catchment areas.
“For us it’s important that the EU Commission allows national and European funding support also for large airports, which have been affected by unforeseen external circumstances, such as the closure of the Russian airspace. Furthermore, EU definitions of airport catchment areas need to reflect new geopolitical realities, which in Helsinki-Vantaa airport are visible due to the border closure to Russia”, says Janne Leino, Director of Helsinki EU Office.
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