Finavia expects five to ten percent more winter passengers at Lapland airports

Finavia expects passenger numbers at its Lapland airports to rise by five to ten percent in the 2026/27 winter season. Flight movements are forecast to grow by four to eight percent, the Finnish airport operator said. It attributes the increase mainly to international direct flights and onward connections through Helsinki.

To meet the higher demand, Finavia has advertised 120 seasonal positions across the airports at Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo and Kuusamo. That is 20 percent more than the previous year. The operator said 460 applications were submitted, nearly 60 percent more than in 2025. Staffing at the four airports will more than double over the winter season.

Infrastructure work has also been carried out. A new parking area of about 4,000 square metres with 130 spaces was completed at Rovaniemi in September, along with changes to traffic arrangements for taxis, buses and private vehicles. Check-in kiosks were replaced at Rovaniemi and Kittilä, while Ivalo received new self-service bag drop machines.

Rovaniemi and Kittilä have used coordinated slot allocation since the last winter season to spread traffic peaks and make better use of existing capacity.