Tampere–Pirkkala Airport

Tampere–Pirkkala Airport (Template:Airport codes; Template:Langx, Template:Langx), or simply Tampere Airport, is located in Pirkkala, Finland, Template:Convert south-west<ref name=aip_eftp/> of Tampere city centre. The airport is the sixth-busiest airport in Finland, as measured by the total number of passengers (168,328 in 2022), and the third-busiest as measured by the number of international passengers (159,801 in 2022).<ref name=air_traffic_statistics/>

History

Foundation and early years

Tampere Airport was founded in 1936 in Härmälä neighbourhood, located Template:Convert from the centre of Tampere. At that time the airport was connected to Helsinki, Vaasa, Oulu and Kemi by Aero O/Y (now Finnair). The first terminal building was built in 1941. Karhumäki Airways began to fly to Stockholm in the 1950s. The runway was paved in 1958. Between 1936 and 1979 Härmälä airport served 1.5 million passengers. In 1979, Härmälä airport was closed and the new Tampere–Pirkkala Airport was opened.<ref name=business_tampere/><ref name=aamulehti_2018-05-17/>

The current terminal 1 building was completed in 1996.<ref name=finavia_about_tampere/> Ryanair started flights to Tampere–Pirkkala in April 2003. Its first destinations were Stockholm-Skavsta, London-Stansted, Frankfurt-Hahn and Riga. This made the airport one of Finland's fastest-growing airports and increased its annual passenger numbers from 256,380 to 709,356 between 2000 and 2008.Template:Cn

Development since 2010

In 2011, Ryanair had 13 destinations from Tampere–Pirkkala. Wizz Air flew to Gdańsk during summers 2010 and 2011. airBaltic resumed flights to Riga in March 2017.Template:Cn

The low-cost airline terminal 2 was renovated in 2014–2015.<ref name=finavia_renovation_terminal_2/> However, in April 2015, Ryanair announced that it would cancel all the routes from Tampere for the winter season 2015–16 due to a plane shortage. Then, only routes to Bremen and Budapest resumed in spring 2016.<ref name=yle_2015-10-08/> in late 2023, Ryanair terminated the route to London-Stansted, ending 20 years of service.Template:Cn

On 14 December 2021, AirBaltic announced that its first secondary hub outside of the Baltic countries would be established in Tampere Airport in May 2022.<ref name=airbaltic_in_tampere/> In March 2023, Finnair announced it would end flights between Tampere and Helsinki Airport and replace them with bus service due to low demand and the short distance.<ref>aerotelegraph.com - "Short routes: Finnair replaces planes with busses" (German) 5 April 2023</ref>

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Tampere–Pirkkala Airport:<ref name=official>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Military usage

The airport is also home to the Satakunta Air Command base of the Finnish Air Force. F-18 Hornets were stationed at Tampere-Pirkkala airport until the middle of 2014 when the 21st flight of the Satakunta Air command was dissolved.Template:Cn

Statistics

Terminal 1 exterior

Terminal 1 interior

Control tower and Terminal 2

Annual passenger statistics for Tampere–Pirkkala Airport <ref name=air_traffic_statistics/>

Year	Domestic passengers	Change	International passengers	Change	Total passengers	Change
1998	113,170		81,549		194,719
1999	119,283	5.4 Template:Increase	103,746	27.2 Template:Increase	223,029	14.5 Template:Increase
2000	140,817	18.1 Template:Increase	115,561	11.4 Template:Increase	256,378	15.0 Template:Increase
2001	135,175	−4.0 Template:Decrease	130,875	13.3 Template:Increase	266,050	3.8 Template:Increase
2002	109,747	−18.8 Template:Decrease	126,525	−3.3 Template:Decrease	236,272	−11.2 Template:Decrease
2003	105,543	−3.8 Template:Decrease	198,482	56.9 Template:Increase	304,025	28.7 Template:Increase
2004	128,250	21.5 Template:Increase	367,642	85.2 Template:Increase	495,892	63.1 Template:Increase
2005	114,669	−10.6 Template:Decrease	482,433	31.2 Template:Increase	597,102	20.4 Template:Increase
2006	119,432	4.2 Template:Increase	512,578	6.2 Template:Increase	632,010	5.8 Template:Increase
2007	113,713	−4.8 Template:Decrease	573,998	12.0 Template:Increase	687,711	8.8 Template:Increase
2008	107,954	−5.1 Template:Decrease	601,402	4.8 Template:Increase	709,356	3.1 Template:Increase
2009	85,372	−20.9 Template:Decrease	542,733	−9.8 Template:Decrease	628,105	−11.5 Template:Decrease
2010	91,312	7.0 Template:Increase	526,085	−3.1 Template:Decrease	617,397	−1.7 Template:Decrease
2011	96,625	5.8 Template:Increase	561,005	6.6 Template:Increase	657,630	6.5 Template:Increase
2012	85,738	−11.3 Template:Decrease	485,001	−13.5 Template:Decrease	570,739	−13.2 Template:Decrease
2013	88,268	3.0 Template:Increase	378,403	−22.0 Template:Decrease	466,671	−18.2 Template:Decrease
2014	93,313	5.7 Template:Increase	319,296	−15.6 Template:Decrease	412,609	−11.6 Template:Decrease
2015	89,938	−3.6 Template:Decrease	267,144	−16.3 Template:Decrease	357,082	−13.5 Template:Decrease
2016	86,278	−4.1 Template:Decrease	122,652	−54.1 Template:Decrease	208,930	−41.5 Template:Decrease
2017	85,844	−0.5 Template:Decrease	144,180	17.6 Template:Increase	230,024	10.1 Template:Increase
2018	81,705	−4.8 Template:Decrease	146,391	1.5 Template:Increase	228,096	−0.8 Template:Decrease
2019	87,006	6.5 Template:Increase	135,384	−7.5 Template:Decrease	222,390	−2.5 Template:Decrease
2020	16,736	−80.8 Template:Decrease	19,214	−85.8 Template:Decrease	35,950	−83.8 Template:Decrease
2021	412	−97.5 Template:Decrease	7,979	−58.5 Template:Decrease	8,391	−76.7 Template:Decrease
2022	8,527	1,969.7 Template:Increase	159,801	1,902.8 Template:Increase	168,328	1,906.1 Template:Increase
2023	661	−76.7 Template:Decrease	213,038	33.3 Template:Increase	213,699	27.0 Template:Increase

Ground transportation

The airport is connected to the city centre of Tampere (25 minutes) by bus route 103, which runs a few times a day just after planes land.<ref name=finavia_tampere_transportation/><ref name=rome2rio/> Bus route 34 goes to central Pirkkala once an hour during rush hours. One can transfer to a few local buses that go to other parts of Pirkkala or Nokia.

There are long-distance connections to Helsinki and other cities via the Tampere Bus Station operated by Matkahuolto.

See also

• List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries

External links

• Finavia – Tampere–Pirkkala Airport (official site)
• AIP Finland – Tampere–Pirkkala Airport
• Template:NWS-current
• Template:ASN