The number of air passengers using Oulu airport continued its strong growth last year. Over 850, 000 passengers passed through Oulu airport in 2006. The figure is nearly 6% more than for 2005, making it Finland’s second busiest airport. The passenger figures include departures and arrivals as well as passengers in transit.

Oulu Airport is the second busiest airport in Finland, with about 20 scheduled flights daily from early morning until late at night and charter flights to holiday resorts. Finnair and Blue1/SAS have regular traffic to Oulu. There are direct flights to Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Kemi-Tornio and Stockholm. Oulu Airport has the capacity to serve up to a million passengers per year. Cargo and training services are available for airline companies. According to a spokesman, the airport may have to expand as demand increases.

The number of passengers using Finavia (former Civil Aviation Administration) airports reached record levels last year -- for the first time ever, the total exceeded 16 million. This was 8 % higher than for 2005.

International traffic grew especially strongly: the number of passengers was up 10% compared with 2005. There was a renewed upturn in domestic traffic in 2006. The trend in 2005 was slightly negative, but in 2006 domestic traffic grew by just over 4% on 2005.

The number of passengers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport exceeded 12 million people for the first time. After Helsinki-Vantaa, the next busiest airports were Oulu, Tampere-Pirkkala and Rovaniemi. The number of passengers at the airport in Oulu was around 850,000 and Tampere-Pirkkala Airport clearly broke the 600,000 barrier, similarly the number of passengers at Rovaniemi exceeded the 400,000 passenger mark. The number of passengers at Vaasa and Kuopio exceeded 300,000.

Christmas flights picked up after a quiet period Christmas traffic in Northern Finland clearly revived after a quieter year in 2005. There were 17% more passengers in December than in December 2005. The number of charter passengers arriving in Lapland in December 2006 was up by 30% compared with the corresponding period in the year before.

Rovaniemi and Kittilä remained the most popular airports for Christmas air traffic. The number of international passengers at Rovaniemi Airport was 18% higher than in 2005. The surge in passenger numbers at Kittilä almost brought the figure to the level of Rovaniemi. The growth in international traffic at Kittilä Airport was 37% compared with the figure for December 2005. The biggest growth in international traffic at Christmas, almost 58%, was at Kuusamo Airport.

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