Tampere–Pirkkala Airport

Tampere–Pirkkala Airport (IATA: TMP, ICAO: EFTP; Finnish: Tampere-Pirkkalan lentoasema, Swedish: Tammerfors-Birkala flygplats), or simply Tampere Airport, is located in Pirkkala, Finland, 7 nautical miles (13 kilometres; 8.1 miles) south-west[2] 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).[1]

Tampere–Pirkkala Airport

Tampere-Pirkkalan lentoasema

Tammerfors-Birkala flygplats
Summary
Airport typePublic/Military
OperatorFinavia
ServesTampere, Pirkkala, Finland
Hub forairBaltic
Elevation AMSL119 m / 390 ft
Coordinates61°24′55″N 023°35′16″E / 61.41528°N 23.58778°E / 61.41528; 23.58778
Websitefinavia.fi
Map
TMP is located in Finland
TMP
TMP
Location within Finland
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 2,700 8,858 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers168,328[1]
Landings1,383[1]
Source: AIP Finland[2]

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.

History

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Foundation and early years

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Tampere Airport was founded in 1936 in Härmälä neighbourhood, located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) 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.[3][4]

The current terminal 1 building was completed in 1996.[5] 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.[citation needed]

Development since 2010

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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.[citation needed]

The low-cost airline terminal 2 was renovated in 2014–2015.[6] 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.[7] in late 2023, Ryanair terminated the route to London-Stansted, ending 20 years of service.[citation needed]

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.[8] 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.[9]

Airlines and destinations

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The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Tampere–Pirkkala Airport:[10]

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Seasonal: Chania (resumes 16 May 2025)[11]
airBaltic Málaga,[10] Riga,[10] Tallinn (ends 29 March 2025)[12]
Seasonal: Gran Canaria,[13] Kittilä,[14][15] Rhodes[10]

Statistics

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Terminal 1 exterior
 
Terminal 1 interior
 
Control tower and Terminal 2
Annual passenger statistics for Tampere–Pirkkala Airport [1]
Year Domestic passengers Change International passengers Change Total passengers Change
1998 113,170 81,549 194,719
1999 119,283 5.4   103,746 27.2   223,029 14.5  
2000 140,817 18.1   115,561 11.4   256,378 15.0  
2001 135,175 −4.0   130,875 13.3   266,050 3.8  
2002 109,747 −18.8   126,525 −3.3   236,272 −11.2  
2003 105,543 −3.8   198,482 56.9   304,025 28.7  
2004 128,250 21.5   367,642 85.2   495,892 63.1  
2005 114,669 −10.6   482,433 31.2   597,102 20.4  
2006 119,432 4.2   512,578 6.2   632,010 5.8  
2007 113,713 −4.8   573,998 12.0   687,711 8.8  
2008 107,954 −5.1   601,402 4.8   709,356 3.1  
2009 85,372 −20.9   542,733 −9.8   628,105 −11.5  
2010 91,312 7.0   526,085 −3.1   617,397 −1.7  
2011 96,625 5.8   561,005 6.6   657,630 6.5  
2012 85,738 −11.3   485,001 −13.5   570,739 −13.2  
2013 88,268 3.0   378,403 −22.0   466,671 −18.2  
2014 93,313 5.7   319,296 −15.6   412,609 −11.6  
2015 89,938 −3.6   267,144 −16.3   357,082 −13.5  
2016 86,278 −4.1   122,652 −54.1   208,930 −41.5  
2017 85,844 −0.5   144,180 17.6   230,024 10.1  
2018 81,705 −4.8   146,391 1.5   228,096 −0.8  
2019 87,006 6.5   135,384 −7.5   222,390 −2.5  
2020 16,736 −80.8   19,214 −85.8   35,950 −83.8  
2021 412 −97.5   7,979 −58.5   8,391 −76.7  
2022 8,527 1,969.7   159,801 1,902.8   168,328 1,906.1  
2023 661 −76.7   213,038 33.3   213,699 27.0  

Ground transportation

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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.[16][17] 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.

Means of transport at Tampere–Pirkkala Airport
Means of transport Operator Route Destinations
  Bus Tampere Regional Transport Authority 34 Pirkkala
  Bus Tampere Regional Transport Authority 103 Tampere railway station
Tampere bus station

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Passengers by airports 1998-2022". Finavia. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b "EFTP Tampere–Pirkkala" (PDF). AIP Suomi / Finland. Finavia. 26 May 2016. pp. EFTP AD 2.1, 1–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Tampere-Pirkkala: tärkeä kenttä, loistava sijainti". Business Tampere (in Finnish). 6 September 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  4. ^ Repo, Toni (17 May 2018). "Pääsy kielletty: Tältä näyttää Tampere-Pirkkalan lennonjohtotornissa – 156 askelmaa johdattaa ainutlaatuisen maiseman äärelle". Aamulehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  5. ^ "About us". Finavia. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Renovation works at Tampere-Pirkkala airport to be completed: Smooth air travel through Terminal 2 / News archive". Finavia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  7. ^ Pekkonen, Sanna (8 October 2015). "Ryanair lentää ensi kesänä Tampereelta vain kahteen kohteeseen" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  8. ^ "airBaltic opens a new base in Tampere". 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  9. ^ aerotelegraph.com - "Short routes: Finnair replaces planes with busses" (German) 5 April 2023
  10. ^ a b c d "Direct flights from Tampere". 22 September 2024.
  11. ^ "tui.fi". 22 September 2024.
  12. ^ "aeroroutes.com".
  13. ^ "AirBaltic to Base Aircraft in the Canary Islands for Winter". 14 June 2023.
  14. ^ "AirBaltic NW24 Network Addition Update – 14AUG24".
  15. ^ "Airbaltic 2023 Winter New Routes - 11MAY23". AirBaltic. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Tampere-Pirkkala public transport". Finavia. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Tampere Airport (TMP) to Tampere Bus Station". Rome2rio. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
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