Statistics 2025: Leisure travel-driven airports in Northern Finland lead growth

“Airlines’ interest in the Finnish market has remained strong, and new routes support both tourism and the needs of business and industry. In 2025, Finland had approximately 140 direct flight routes to destinations around the world,” says Petri Vuori, Senior Vice President of Route Development at Finavia. 

In 2025, approximately 81.9 per cent (80.9%) of all passengers travelled on international flights, while 18.1 per cent (19.1%) travelled on domestic routes. A total of 289,469 commercial flight operations – take-offs and landings – were recorded during the year (+1.5%). 

Measured by passenger numbers, air traffic has recovered to around 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. The annual growth in passenger numbers, 4.4 per cent, is currently in line with the European average.

Helsinki Airport 

Helsinki Airport continues to be a leading hub between Europe and Asia, with transfer traffic recovering and increasing. International transfer traffic at Helsinki Airport accounted for 27.1 per cent (25.5%) of passengers because of an increase in long-haul services. Total share of transfer passengers was 32.6 per cent (31.1%) of all passengers at Helsinki Airport. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the share of all transfer passengers at Helsinki Airport was 38.2%.  

Regional airports 

Finavia’s 17 regional airports recorded a combined total of approximately 3.5 million passengers. Passenger trends at the network airports reflected regional differences, tourism seasons and airlines’ route decisions. 

Among the leisure travel-driven airports in Northern Finland, passenger numbers increased most at Rovaniemi Airport, which exceeded the milestone of one million annual passengers for the first time. By the end of the year, Rovaniemi Airport had served 1.1 million passengers (+18.4%). 

“Rovaniemi currently acts as the driving force of leisure travel in Finnish Lapland, and its success also supports the development across the wider region. In 2024, the one-million-passenger mark was narrowly missed; however, this year the historic milestone was reached just before Christmas. This winter season, Rovaniemi has direct flights from 38 different airports, in addition to Helsinki Airport,” Vuori says. 

In 2025, Kittilä Airport served 445,911 passengers (+8.3%), Ivalo Airport 249,056 passengers (0%), and Kuusamo Airport 129,373 passengers (+2.4%). 

Airports (Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Kemi-Tornio, Kokkola-Pietarsaari and Pori) with state-subsidised purchased traffic, recorded slight growth in passenger numbers, apart from Savonlinna.  

Turku and Kuopio airports increased their passenger numbers, while Tampere–Pirkkala, Vaasa and Oulu airports saw a decline.

Key figures 2025 

	Jan- Dec 2025	Jan-Dec 2024*
Total passengers at Finavia’s airports	20,433,604 (+4.4%)	19,577,049
- Helsinki Airport	16,980,287 (+4.1%)	16,308,978
- Regional airports	3,453,317 (+5.7%)	3,268,071
Transfer passengers at Helsinki Airport departing on international flights	2,299,243 (+10.6%)	2,078,350
Total freight volume at Finavia’s airports (tonnes)  - Helsinki Airport  - Regional airports	185,771 (+0.6%)  184,004 (+0.9%)  1,767 (-23.1%)	184,648  182,349  2,299
Total number of commercial flights at Finavia’s airports	198,081 (+2.5%)	193 ,172
- Helsinki Airports	152,837 (+1.8%)	150,080
- Regional airports	45,244  (+4.9%)	43,092

*Passenger volume data for December 2024 reconciled in January 2025.

Read more: Finavia’s traffic statistics 2025