Finavia launches extensive recruitment – the number of employees at northern airports will more than double for the winter season

The traffic structure of tourism-driven airports in Lapland and Northern Finland shows a very strong seasonality, which is why the number of passengers and flights varies greatly from month to month. The winter season in Lapland is a very strategically important period for Finavia, as the number of passengers travelling through airports will multiply compared to the summer season.

”This year, Finavia will open a job search for 120 positions at four airports in Northern Finland. With the recruitments, Finavia’s number of employees at these airports will more than double. There are usually many people among the seasonal employees who have worked at Finavia in previous years. For us, this is a sign that Finavia has been able to offer interesting jobs as an employer,” says Jonna Pietilä, Finavia's Regional Director of Northern Finland and Lapland Airports.

Seasonality places significant requirements on the operative efficiency and customer service of airports, and personnel play a key role in the success of the season. The orientation and training of employees emphasises a service attitude, quick problem-solving, management of peak hours and the security processes for working at airports.

Even though the Christmas season is traditionally very busy at northern airports, the winter season now starts well in advance in November and continues into spring. Successful recruitment of the seasonal employees for the winter season, orientation and active additional training of personnel are key factors in ensuring a high-quality travel experience throughout the busy winter season.

”We are looking for both long-term professionals and employees starting their careers, for whom the airport may be one of their first jobs. The airport offers a huge number of different positions, so the employees’ different backgrounds and skills add value to the airport community,” says Jonna Pietilä.

Developing the customer experience and ensuring high quality also in the future are key objectives

Successful recruitment for the winter season, professionals who enjoy their work and a good customer experience go hand in hand. The customer satisfaction of passengers has been closely monitored for years. Observations from the passenger surveys are discussed in regular cooperation meetings and in assessment and development workshops at the end of the season. In addition, Finavia uses a system that provides the organisation’s experts with access to key information and passenger ratings to support the development of the customer experience.

”Finavia monitors passenger satisfaction at airports with surveys, and these surveys provide us with important information to support the development of the passenger experience at airports. According to last year’s passenger satisfaction results, nearly 95 per cent of passengers at Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo and Kuusamo airports are satisfied with the airport experience. This strong result is a sign of a consistent and carefully created airport experience where our employees play a key role,” says Jonna Pietilä.

At Finavia’s northern tourism-driven airports, passenger satisfaction has remained at a high level for several years. In 2025, Rovaniemi, Ivalo, Kittilä and Kuusamo airports achieved particularly good results in passenger satisfaction surveys in areas such as airport parking arrangements, security control and the comfort and cleanliness of the facilities.

”We have paid a lot of attention to the efficiency of security control procedures and service situations. Last year, security control at these airports was rated as very good overall, with an overall score of over 4.6 on a scale of 1–5,” says Jonna Pietilä.

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Fact boxes

Respondent profile in the passenger satisfaction survey in 2025

	Share of leisure passengers	Largest age group among respondents	Share of respondents who arrived at the airport by car
Ivalo	73%	Aged 45–54 years (23%)	38%
Kittilä	70%	Aged 35–44 years (32%)	72%
Kuusamo	72%	Aged 45–54 years (24%)	83%
Rovaniemi	66%	Aged 25–34 years (24%)	62%

Largest passenger groups (number of passengers) from outside Finland in 2025

Ivalo	Kittilä	Kuusamo	Rovaniemi
United Kingdom: 39,000	United Kingdom: 68,000	United Kingdom: 26,000	United Kingdom: 173,000
France: 12,000	Germany: 38,000	Netherlands: 14,000	France: 92,000
Germany: 11,000	France: 36,000	Germany: 13,000	Italy: 63,000

Number of passengers in 2025

	Ivalo	Kittilä	Kuusamo	Rovaniemi
Domestic flights	169,670 (-4.6.%)	189,189 (-5.1%)	60,707 (-2.6%)	516,184 (-2.2%)
International flights	79,386 (11.8%)	256,722 (20.9%)	68,666 (+7.2%)	603,838 (+44.3%)
Total number of passengers	249,056 (-%)	445,911 (8.3%)	129,373 (+2.4%)	1,120,022 (18.4.%)

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