Helsinki Airport Flight Departures (HEL)

Flight Departures at Helsinki Airport

Helsinki Airport lies just a 17 km distance from central Helsinki, in a commuter suburb called Vantaa, which has grown so large it has become a town in its own right.

More than 20.8 million passengers used Helsinki Airport in 2019, making it the Nordic region’s fourth largest airport in terms of passenger numbers.

Departures at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport can choose from a multitude of domestic flights connection most parts of this huge country as well as from a large number of international flight routes to destinations such as Budapest, Hamburg, Prague, London Heathrow or Gatwick, Shanghai, Oulu, Vienna, Berlin, Kiev, Malaga, Osaka, Ivalo, Warsaw, Bangkok or Nagoya among many others. Flight times are posted online some 15 hours in advance, allowing passengers to check their departure times before they travel to the airport.

Finnair uses Helsinki-Vantaa Airport as its base as well as regional carrier Blue1, part of SAS. Helsinki Airport departures can choose their onward destinations with international airlines such as Aer Lingus, KLM, Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Qatar Airways and TAP Portugal.

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport departures can enjoy free WiFi access in both terminals, where they’ll also find a variety of self-service check-in kiosks or can use the counters of their respective airlines. Departures are handled by both terminals, as they are actually divided into Schengen and non-Schengen areas, rather than terminals that deal only with specific airlines.

Departures at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport can either take a taxi, use the new train station or board one of several bus lines. Line 615 is a shuttle service that runs between Helsinki Central Train Station and the airport, as well as picking up from the main hotels in the area.

This service takes between 30 to 55 minutes to get to the airport, depending on the time of travelling during the day. During the night this route is covered by line 620N. Departures at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport who need to travel back from Tikkurila Station should board bus 61 to get to the airport.

Finnair offer a more luxurious Express bus service, which takes only 30 minutes to reach the airport from central Helsinki locations.

There are several car hire suppliers with rental desks at Helsinki Airport, which are located in the corridor linking the two terminals. The car parking area for rental cars is located at car park facility P3B.

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport also has its own airport coach terminal, bringing in passengers from all parts of Finland via Express coach services.

Helsinki Central Railway Station is located at Kaivokatu 1 in the center of the city. Regional trains I and P travel between Central Railway Station and Helsinki Airport. A typical journey by airport taxi will be charged at EUR 35.00 to EUR 40.00 from the center of Helsinki. The taxi journey to the airport will take approximately 30 minutes.

Tikkurila Train Station connects passengers to the airport via commuter and long-distance trains, which arrive from Tampere and Lahti, Saint Petersburg and Moscow among many other destinations in the greater Helsinki area and beyond.

Another bus line, service 540, connects Helsinki Airport with Espoo Train Station, which has train links with Turku and other parts of Finland.