Finavia’s €17m ($19m) development and modernization project has been completed at Tampere Airport in Finland. The project increases the airport’s capacity and passenger accessibility to the entire Pirkanmaa region.
Around €15m (US$17m) was used on expanding the apron and renewing the runway. The runway’s instrument landing system was also renewed and precision approach procedures were improved at a cost of €2m (US$2.3m).
Mari Nurminen, airport director and area manager at Finavia, said, “Our airport is in great shape now. We welcome all of Pirkanmaa to enjoy their fully modernized local airport.
“Tampere Airport has excellent connections to three important air traffic hubs: Helsinki, Riga and Stockholm. They offer passengers a fantastic range of connections to everywhere in the world. Direct flights from Tampere are available to Bremen, Budapest and, starting next autumn, Malaga.
“Thanks to the new, wider turn pads, we will be able to extend our services to wide-body aircraft. The modernization project also included replacing the airport lights with energy-efficient LED lights and improving the recovery of anti-freeze agents and related soil protection. The new integrated listening system (ILS) devices improve air traffic’s possibilities to operate even in bad weather conditions.”
The renovation started in April and was finished on August 12. Military and general aviation begun their operations on the new runway already the same day, while the first commercial plane landed on August 13.