Tampere–Pirkkala Airport

Tampere–Pirkkala Airport Tampere-Pirkkalan lentoasema
IATA: TMP ICAO: EFTP
Summary
Airport type	Public/Military
Operator	Finavia
Serves	Tampere, Finland
Location	Pirkkala
Elevation AMSL	119 m / 390 ft
Coordinates	61°24′55″N 023°35′16″E / 61.41528°N 23.58778°E / 61.41528; 23.58778Coordinates: 61°24′55″N 023°35′16″E / 61.41528°N 23.58778°E / 61.41528; 23.58778
Website	finavia.fi
Map
TMP Location within Finland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 2,700 8,858 Asphalt
Statistics (2016)
Passengers 208,930
Source: AIP Finland[1] Statistics from Finavia[2]

Terminal 1

Tampere–Pirkkala Airport (IATA: TMP, ICAO: EFTP) is located in Pirkkala, Finland, 7 nautical miles (13 kilometres; 8.1 miles) south-west^[1] of Tampere city centre. The airport is the eighth-busiest airport in Finland, as measured by the number of passengers (208,930 in 2016), and the third-busiest airport in Finland, as measured by the number of international passengers (122,652 in 2016).^[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

Terminal 2 from inside before 2014 renovations

The check-in area of Terminal 1

Tampere Airport was founded in 1936 in Härmälä neighbourhood, locating 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.

The current terminal 1 building was completed in 1996.^[3] 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. In 2011, Ryanair had 13 destinations from Tampere–Pirkkala. Wizz Air flew to Gdansk during summers 2010 and 2011. airBaltic will resume flights to Riga in March 2017.

The low-cost airline terminal 2 was renovated in 2014–2015.^[4] 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. Only routes to Bremen and Budapest have resumed in spring 2016.^[5]

In November 2015, travel agency We Travel announced that they will open up a new direct flight connection between Tampere and Zadar, Croatia.^[6] The new seasonal connection is scheduled to open in May 2016.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

9 busiest routes by passengers handled:^[8]

Rank	Airport	Passengers (2015)	Operators
1.	Helsinki, Finland	89,244	Nordic Regional Airlines
2.	Stockholm–Arlanda, Sweden	52,407	Scandinavian Airlines
3.	London–Stansted, United Kingdom	41,525	Ryanair
4.	Bremen, Germany	33,125	Ryanair
5.	Bergamo, Italy	30,106	Ryanair
6.	Málaga, Spain	23,935	Ryanair, Small Planet Airlines
7.	Alicante, Spain	21,207	Ryanair
8.	Frankfurt–Hahn, Germany	20,459	Ryanair
9.	Budapest, Hungary	20,049	Ryanair

Passengers

Annual passenger statistics for Tampere–Pirkkala Airport ^[9]

Year	Domestic passengers	International passengers	Total passengers	Change
2005	114,669	482,433	597,102	+20.4%
2006	119,432	512,578	632,010	+5.8%
2007	113,713	573,998	687,711	+8.8%
2008	107,954	601,402	709,356	+3.1%
2009	85,351	542,733	628,084	−11.5%
2010	91,312	526,276	617,588	−1.7%
2011	96,625	561,005	657,630	+6.5%
2012	85,738	485,001	570,739	-13.2%
2013	88,268	378,403	466,671	-18.2%
2014	93,313	319,296	412,609	-11.6%
2015	89,938	267,144	357,082	-13.5%
2016	86,278	122,652	208,930	-41.5%

Freight and mail

Loaded/Unloaded freight and mail (tons) Tampere–Pirkkala Airport^[10]

Year	Domestic freight	Domestic mail	International freight	International mail	Total freight and mail	Change
2005	111	0	0	0	111	−17%
2006	96	0	107	0	203	+83%
2007	65	0	105	0	170	−16%
2008	59	0	240	0	299	+76%
2009	14	0	845	2	861	+188%
2010	106	0	562	1	669	−22%
2011	109	0	433	0	542	−19%
2012	1	0	399	0	401	−26%
2013	69	0	303	0	539	+34%

Ground transportation

The airport is connected to the city centres of Pirkkala (8 minutes) and Tampere (30 minutes) by bus route 1A, which runs once an hour.^[11] The bus fare for a single ticket to Pirkkala is €3 (zones B+C) and to Tampere it is €5^[12] (zones A+B+C). One can change to any other bus going anywhere within Tampere and parts of neighbouring municipalities within one hour from the purchase of the ticket. The buses on bus route 1A going toward the airport show the text "1A Pirkkala Lentoasema/Airport" on the front of the bus. Bus routes 1, 1B and 1C do not go to the airport.

There is also a faster Ryanair affiliated link connecting the terminal that Ryanair flies to with the railway station. The bus fare on this line is €6. This bus route is only operated when Ryanair is operating flights to Tampere-Pirkkala

There are long distance connections to Helsinki and other cities via the Tampere coach station. The timetables can be found at the Matkahuolto web site.

A taxi service is also available in front of Terminal 1.

Means of transport at Tampere–Pirkkala Airport
Means of transport	Operator	Route	Destinations	Website
Bus	Tampere City Public Transport	1A	Tampere railway station Tampere coach station	joukkoliikenne.tampere.fi
Bus	Ryanair's Partners		Tampere railway station	tokee.fi

See also

• List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries

References

External links

Media related to Tampere-Pirkkala Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Finavia – Tampere–Pirkkala Airport (official site)
• AIP Finland – Tampere–Pirkkala Airport
• Current weather for EFTP at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for TMP at Aviation Safety Network