Earlier this year Finavia, the public company responsible for maintaining Finland’s airport network, broke ground on a massive construction project that will completely overhaul the terminal entrance at Helsinki Vantaa airport. The project represents a huge investment into Finland’s primary airport, and it will be absolutely stunning once the new structures and facilities are completed.
Helsinki Vantaa New Terminal Building
I passed through Helsinki a few weeks ago and noticed all the ongoing construction. This is what made me curious to know what exactly was being developed at the airport. The main negative and positive takeaways of my airport experience at Helsinki were the following: the departures hall was overly busy and crowded, and the Nordic design elements at Vantaa airport make it a very appealing airport.
This Terminal 2 redevelopment and expansion will solve the former problem while maintaining the beauty and elegance of the latter. The primary part of the project is a completely new check-in and arrivals hall with visually mesmerizing architecture. The rendering is incredible.
Image courtesy of Finavia
Finavia put the project design out to competition to various architectural design firms. The winning design was created by Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki and Samuli Woolston from ALA Architects. The new structure will sit where there are currently parking lots. The renderings of the interior are also wonderful.
Image courtesy of ALA Architects
The overall project include the following: adding 45% more terminal area with the new building, doubling the number of wide-body jet-bridge gates (already completed), and more convenient linking of all forms of public transportation that serve Helsinki Vantaa. All said and done, it’s going to be an excellent airport development for Finland.
The flowing lines of the brand-new building remind me a bit of the Helsinki Public Library that I visited while in the Finnish capital. If you pay the city a visit, definitely stop by to have a look. Head up to the upper deck where you can have a nice view of the nearby park.
Conclusion
The airport construction isn’t slated to be completed until sometime in 2020, so it’ll be a little while still until you can see the new Helsinki Vantaa Terminal 2 structure in person. I would love to head back to Helsinki to see how it turns out. And to enjoy Finland some more. It’s such an excellent country and well worth a visit.
The drawings show a wonderful terminal. Except if you are elderly and your hip hurts or you are young and have a sports injury of your knee. Then all that walking. For those people, the airports at Paine Field, London City, Columbia Missouri and other small no-nonsense airports are better.
I hope they have some way of providing assistance to those guests. It will be a longer walk, as the building is located where the parking is now.
I’m booked to visit Paine Field next summer. Can’t wait!