Plan to widen criteria for nationally important airports highlights Tampere's defence and diversion roles

Traficom has published a review proposing a systematic, transparent assessment framework to define nationally important airports in Finland, to guide a designation planned for 2027 under the national transport system plan Liikenne 12.

Rather than relying on commercial metrics alone, the framework recommends assessing passenger volumes and trends, financial indicators, socio-economic efficiency, regional economic impacts, security of supply and defence needs.

Director General Emil Asp said the study aimed to give decision-makers a clear tool: "The goal was to create a systematic and transparent assessment framework to support decisions on which airports are nationally important."

Prepared as part of implementing the Transport 12 plan, the review draws on consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. It notes divergent post-pandemic trends, with tourism-driven passenger growth at many northern airports and falling numbers in Oulu and at airports south of Oulu. The changes are treated as structural rather than temporary.

The review highlights a stark economic imbalance across the network. Of the regional network airports, only Rovaniemi is currently profitable; the rest are effectively kept afloat by revenues from Helsinki‑Vantaa. That is striking.

Defence and security-of-supply needs are another focus, with Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Rovaniemi and Tampere identified as principal support bases for air force operations and smaller bases to supplement them. Tampere and Turku are singled out as potential diversion airports if Helsinki‑Vantaa becomes unusable. It also examines medical flight logistics, alternative fuels, a Finland–Sweden airport network comparison and issues around airport charges.

Its identification of Tampere among key diversion and defence-support airports follows local efforts to position Tampere‑Pirkkala as a logistics gateway for time-critical air cargo Business Tampere's push to market Tampere‑Pirkkala as a cargo gateway and accompanies recent Traficom funding for aviation research and testing in the Tampere area the Traficom grant to develop Teisko airfield as a drone test site.