Statement concerning the Airport Survey of Helsinki Region

Friends of Malmi Airport Society
30 October 2007

The Friends of Malmi Airport Society (FoMA) is a civic organization founded on 23 March 2002 to actively support the preservation and development of historic Helsinki-Malmi Airport. The Society has around 900 members.

The Society has studied the Airport Survey of Helsinki Region, published in August 2007 by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and wishes to make the following statement.

The merits and demerits of the Survey

It is the opinion of FoMA that the Survey, made by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in cooperation with Finavia and other consultants, has certain merits. It is positive that the increasing needs of general aviation in the capital region is recognized for the first time. FoMA also considers it positive that for the first time an attempt has been made to study the possibilities of maintaining the operations of Malmi Airport on their present location, and of continuing them also after the land cession agreement of the area expires in the year 2034. As a whole, however, the Survey does not agree with FoMa's views about the needs and development of Finnish pilot education and general aviation. FoMA considers the critical shortcomings of the Survey to be related to the following issues:

The proposed alternative of turning the runway direction at Malmi by 70 degrees and expropriating nearby residential and industrial areas is overdimensioned and unrealistic.
The alternatives based on helicopter bases only leave general aviation completely without operational preconditions in Helsinki region and are thus unrealistic.
The Survey omits the moderate development of Malmi Airport with slight justification.
The Survey does not present any cost estimate for the alternative of moderately developing Malmi Airport from the basis of the present runways.
The Survey does not take into account economical considerations except those related to investments, and the commercial operating model for the proposed airport in Backas, Porvoo, is not investigated at all.
The possibilities of developing the operating procedures at Helsinki-Vantaa and Helsinki-Malmi as a whole have not been investigated in the Survey. The suitability of modern instrument approach systems to Malmi Airport have not been studied either.
The Survey completely disregards the remarkable aviation-historical, cultural and cityscape values related to Malmi Airport.

Securing the operational preconditions of aviation in the capital region

It is understandable that the land cession agreement of Malmi Airport, expiring in the year 2034, creates concern about the continuity of aviation activities in the long term. The continuity of operations at Malmi Airport can, however, be secured in the long term by transferring the ownership of the lands from City of Helsinki to the State. The State has the possibility of assuming the ownership of the lands by expropriation or by a swap of lands (e.g. a corresponding area of land owned by the State in Helsinki's Malminkartano). In this manner the land acquisition would not be a severe economical burden, and would create a situation in which the presently assumed deadline for aviation activities (the year 2034) would be annulled and the development of the Airport in the long term would be possible. Securing the land use purpose is a crucial issue for the operational preconditions and economical future of a general aviation airport serving Helsinki region.

Securing the runway capacity in Helsinki region is mentioned in the Survey as the goal of the Ministry of Transport and Communications and Finavia. A comparison to some other big airports in Europe shows, however, that there is ample room for making more effective use of the capacity of Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport even in the long term. In the year 2006, Helsinki-Vantaa had 182.236 flight operations. According to the long-term forecast of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL), the number of commercial flight operations in Finland is in the year 2025 about 1.8 to 2.2 times the present number of operations. This would mean 328.000-401.000 annual operations. This number can be compared to the present situation at some of the largest airports in Europe:

At Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) there are 514.000 annual operations (2005). CDG's four runways lie almost parallel to each other, but only two are used at a time. Almost directly along the direction of the southernmost runways lies b]Le Bourget Airport/b, which has 55.000 annual operations from two runways. Le Bourget is the busiest business airport in Europe for both private and commercial traffic. It is used by 130.000 passengers every year, and one of the most important aviation museums in Europe is situated there. Le Bourget is only 5 km away from CDG in a much more disadvantageous location than Malmi Airport is relative to Helsinki-Vantaa, and the runway directions of Le Bourget cross those of CDG. Even so, it has been possible to reconcile the operating procedures of these two airports.
Frankfurt am Main Airport has 489.406 annual operations (2006), i.e. 2.7 times the number of Helsinki-Vantaa. It has three runways, of which two are in parallel and crossed by the third, just like at Helsinki-Vantaa.
London Heathrow Airport has 477.048 annual operations (2006). It only has two runways in parallel.
Madrid Barajas Airport has 434.959 annual operations (2006). There are one less runways than at Helsinki-Vantaa, and they cross each other. Less than 10 km to the east is Torrejón airfield for private and commercial general aviation. Its runway direction crosses those of Barajas.
Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport has 411.335 annual operations (2006). It only has two runways in parallel.
London Gatwick Airport has 245.000 annual operations on a single runway.

The capacity parameters given for Helsinki-Vantaa Airport for the summer period 26 March - 28 October 2007 and for the winter period 29 October 2007 - 25 March 2008 (http://www.helslot.fi) indicate a theoretical runway capacity of more than 650.000 operations annually using the present flight procedures. Even if just half of the announced runway capacity was utilized, it would be enough to almost double the present number of operations.

The examples from other European airports given above show that it is possible to boost the capacity of Helsinki-Vantaa considerably from the present by improving the air traffic control and terminal solutions. For example, building a new terminal between the parallel runways would raise the capacity of the airport considerably. The recent adoption of independent approaches to the parallel runways is another good example of developing the flight procedures and improving the capacity of the airport.

Porvoo's Backas as an airport location

As the location of the new Helsinki regional airport, Finavia's workgroup suggests Backas in Porvoo, which even in the broadest meaning of the term does not belong to Helsinki region. It takes an hour to drive there from Helsinki city center as well as from Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, especially during the rush hours which are typical in the schedule of business travellers.

If the present operations of Helsinki-Malmi Airport, the business flight activities of Helsinki-Vantaa and possibly a part of Baltic scheduled and chartered traffic were to be transferred this far from the capital region, their economical viability would definitely suffer. It is quite likely that the airport in Backas would be underutilized.

The alternatives suggested in the Survey have, regrettably, been crafted in the inner circle of the Civil Service and the Ministries. The planned alternatives have not been communicated to the users of Malmi and Vantaa Airports whom the matter concerns, nor have their estimates of their operational preconditions been inquired after, even though the whole Survey was supposed to start from their needs.

There is no willingness to be seen among the operators at Malmi Airport to move their activities far away from Helsinki and from good traffic services. In the inquiries made by FoMA, not a single pilot school or enterprise willing to move its activities to Backas has emerged. The comments from Finnish business flight companies have also been explicitly negative. It is obvious that the business flight companies want to operate within good traffic and logistics services. Long road transportation between the airport and the destination of the passengers weakens the basic preconditions of their operation.

Even in the best case, moving the business flights and Baltic scheduled flights to Backas would merely cause an income transfer from Helsinki-Vantaa to Backas, weakening Finavia's overall economy.

Should the Backas alternative be followed through, it is to be feared that the threats foreseen by the Chief of Malmi Airport Raimo Seppänen as early as 1987 in an interview by Ilmailu (Aviation) Magazine would be realized:

"Public funds should not be wasted by building a new airfield. The transfer would rather likely move the airport so far away that the nature of the operations would change completely. Those who need pilot training, business flights or a place for hobby aviation would certainly not go to Porvoo's distance after these services, and it's no use for the present entrepreneurs of the Airport to go looking for clients there either. If the airport operations were to be moved far away from the capital region, it might mean the end of powered flight activities."

It is also surprising that the Backas alternative of the Airport Survey doesn't at all take into account the possible safety risk caused by air traffic in the vicinity of Kilpilahti (Sköldvik) oil refinery, the biggest of its kind in Finland. The so-called Piirainen workgroup, which was set up by the Ministry of Transport and Communications to study the substitutive locations for the activities of Malmi Airport, explicitly criticized in its report (28 December 2000) the northern Box region and Nevas region in Sipoo because of the risks arising from the proximity of the oil refinery. An unambiguously negative standpoint to the proposed airfield location in Nevas was presented by the city of Porvoo, the municipality of Sipoo and the owner and operator of the refinery, Fortum Ltd, which also unambiguously denounced Box region. Box is also mentioned in the Airport Survey, where it has been omitted from further study because of its location. The proposed airport location in Backas is, however, just as close to the refinery, and in addition the scope of the flight operations proposed for Backas is far beyond that considered by the Piirainen workgroup.

The alternatives presented in the Airport Survey of Helsinki Region are extremely expensive for both the State and the users of the airport. Procuring funds for them would be very difficult. The intense development alternative proposed for Malmi Airport (VE2) contains overdimensioned requirements of turning and extending the runway, calling for expensive land acquisition measures. Because of this, it has been possible to portray the costs of the Backas alternative as lower than those related to developing Malmi Airport. In the light of, e.g., the projected and realized costs of Vuosaari Harbor it is nevertheless likely that building completely new infrastructure in Backas will not succeed within the estimated costs.

The alternative: moderate development of Malmi Airport

The Friends of Malmi Airport Society notes that it is possible to develop Malmi Airport moderately, taking especially into account the needs of general aviation including light commercial traffic. There is no reason to change the runway directions. Instead, the development of the Airport should be based on the following premises:

the present main runway 18/36 and the second runway 09/27 should be preserved
the surface of the runways should be renovated
the building prohibition in effect on the Airport must be lifted, so that it is possible to build more hangars, office space and classrooms at the Airport or in its immediate vicinity.
if required, it would be possible to extend the main runway 100 m to the north and 200 m to the south by removing the clifftop from the southern end and by digging a tunnel for the emergency roadway (bringing the runway length to about 1600-1700 m from the present 1340 m).

With these measures it would be possible to develop Malmi Airport with moderation, respecting the historical milieu and the residents living nearby, cost-effectively and serving the needs of the whole general aviation sector. The achievable runway length would be sufficient for almost any modern or older general aviation flight equipment, including business aircraft.

The runway extension would not even be needed at Malmi, if in the future it proved necessary to move business flight operations away from Helsinki-Vantaa. Very Light Jets (VLJ), which are at present making a strong breakthrough to the market, make possible business flight operations from small local airports with just 1 km of runway. These new-generation small business jets are also quieter than traditional piston-engined aircraft. VLJ's are currently making their way to European skies, and are likely to take a well-established share of the market in the next 10-15 years. Malmi Airport is excellently suited for this type of commercial aviation.

For the moderate development scenario of Malmi Airport to bring maximal benefits to light commercial operations, modern instrument approach systems should be installed for the present runways. In this process, Malmi should no more be treated as an underdog subordinate to Helsinki-Vantaa, but as the part of the capital region's airport system serving light air traffic, a role which it has in fact fulfilled for decades.

According to the Airport Survey of Helsinki Region, instrument approach methods cannot be realized for Malmi Airport's present runways due to the proximity of Helsinki-Vantaa and the crossing runway directions. This claim is not justified in any way, and there is no true evidence to back it up, as similar solutions for both crossing runway directions and airports near each other can be found around the world (see the European examples given above). The airspace borders and procedures should be planned as a whole in such a way that the procedures of one airport do not exclude or disturb those of the other. It is possible to create instrument approach procedures for both runways at Malmi Airport, with turns away from Helsinki-Vantaa's approach directions in such a way that Vantaa's operations are not disturbed under any circumstances.

In addition to the traditional ILS system, e.g., modern GPS-based approach systems and procedures make possible the arranging of adequate instrument approach systems at Malmi Airport in such a way that the operations of Malmi Airport and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport do not disturb each other. One possibly noteworthy alternative would be to organize the instrument approach procedures to Malmi Airport as a part of Helsinki-Vantaa's procedures, in which case the existing approach systems at Helsinki-Vantaa could be utilized also when approaching Malmi Airport. This would make the realization of instrument approach procedures at Malmi more economical.

The representative of Finavia expressed at the public information meeting at Malmi House on 16 October 2007 the viewpoint that the third runway of Helsinki-Vantaa (crossing the two parallel runways) hinders the full exploitation of the capacity of the parallel runways. The interpretation of this statement is that removing this runway from regular use would improve Helsinki-Vantaa's traffic capacity. At the same time, flyovers of heavy traffic at Malmi Airport would come to an end, making it possible to develop a more spacious airspace for Malmi Airport and facilitating the creation of the instrument approach procedures.

Securing the economic viability of the operations of Malmi Airport

The arguments presented in this statement show that Malmi Airport can be developed expediently with fundamentally smaller investments than would be required to build a new airport in Porvoo. This also makes possible the versatile use of the long-existing Airport and the surrounding safety zones without any need to endanger other areas and their established land use purposes. Upon closer inspection, the moderate development of Malmi Airport would also serve a larger number of interest groups. A moderate amount of business flights with modern light equipment would improve the economy of Malmi Airport and might even turn it profitable.

Professional pilot training in Pori (on the west coast of Finland) is subsidized by several million euros annually by the Ministry of Education. Malmi Airport does not get any such support for its operation. Pori produces about 1/3 of Finnish professional pilots, whereas Malmi gives education to the majority of them, 2/3. It must also be noted that the student pilots of Pori get their basic training at Malmi, which raises the share of Malmi Airport in basic training of Finnish professional pilots close to 100%. Any possibly remaining book losses of Malmi Airport should be considered for subsidy by an annual State appropriation due to the crucial national importance of Malmi Airport in pilot training. This would make it possible to lower the fees collected from the users of Malmi Airport (2-3 times as high as elsewhere in the country) to the level of the other airports, putting the users of Malmi on equal footing with the rest of the country and further increasing public interest in aviation.

To secure the long-term development of Malmi Airport, the State can assume the ownership of the lands by either expropriation or by swapping lands with City of Helsinki (e.g. an equal area of state-owned land in Helsinki's Malminkartano). This way, procuring the lands of the airport would not be a heavy economic burden, the presently assumed deadline for the cessation of flight operations (year 2034) would no longer be relevant, and the long-term development of the Airport could be planned. Securing the land use purpose is of crucial importance to the operational preconditions and economic future of a general aviation airfield serving Helsinki region.

The wider meaning and potential of Malmi Airport

Finavia's Survey naturally concentrates on actual aviation-technical questions. It is surprising, howevert, that the Survey almost completely ignores the cultural, historical and cityscape values related to Malmi Airport as a whole. These values are of considerable importance when planning the development and expansion of airport operations. Malmi's unique aviation milieu provides an excellent starting point for developing the Airport into a living center of aviation culture and history which at the same time serves general aviation and pilot training. Setting up a world-class aviation museum complete with flying historic aircraft next to the other aviation activities could create a tourist attraction capable of covering most of its operating costs from cultural tourism.

Malmi Airport is by flight operations the second busiest airport in Finland, and one of the best-preserved old civilian airports in the world, a true world-class rarity from the early days of passenger aviation. It is included in the list of built cultural environments of national significance (National Board of Antiquities and the Ministry of the Environment: Built Cultural Environment. Cultural-Historical Environments of National Significance, 1993). In addition, Malmi Airport as a whole has twice been selected to the List of 100 Most Endangered Sites, published biannually by the World Monuments Fund, as the first site in Finland and the first airport in the world. The living airport is also included in the Finnish selection of the international DoCoMoMo workgroup, which keeps track of important monuments of modern architecture. As a result surveyed by Gallup Finland, the public opinion in Helsinki region is overwhelmingly in favor of preserving the aviation activities of Malmi Airport at their present location.

The moderate development alternative presented by FoMA in this statement would preserve the authentic old milieu of Malmi Airport, the original runways and historical layers. The Airport would distinctly remain in the service of general aviation and light air traffic, a role which in which it has served Finnish aviation with merit for most of its history. The residential areas around the Airport would also retain their familiar and appreciated character.

The natural and environmental value of Malmi Airport

The alternative presented in the Airport Survey, involving a 70 degree turn of the runway direction, would radically alter the airport milieu. No investigation has been made of the effects this would have on the nature and environment of the area. It is known, however, that issues involving the protection of the original biotype can become surprisingly important in large building projects. As an example, the large-scale traffic arrangements to save the surrounding natural values in Vuosaari Harbor can be mentioned. In the surveys conducted for City of Helsinki's General Plan 2002 it is pointed out that Malmi Airport is an extremely important bird haven with nesting populations of species defined by the EU as valuable and endangered. It must be noted that these issues related to the avifauna and the surrounding natural habitat would immediately be raised if the plans to turn the runway direction were to be realized.

Due to the important natural values of Malmi Airport, various nature conservation organizations have clearly voiced their opinion that Malmi Airport should be preserved in its original use (e.g. the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, 2 October 2004). Thus, when contemplating the future of Malmi Airport, a much wider scope of historical, cityscape and cultural values should be adopted.

In the feedback given to city planners by the local residents, it is also unambiguously expressed that the open and spacious landscape should be preserved. Malmi Airport has long been a kind of open landscape in northern Helsinki, and is recognized as an important local infrastructure just because of its spacious nature (City of Helsinki, City Planning Board 1 November 2001).

Cost estimate of the moderate development alternative of Malmi Airport

The cost estimate given below is based on the figures presented in the Airport Survey when applicable. The most important savings as compared to the heavy development alternative presented in the Survey would be accomplished by limiting the flight operations to the weight class of business aircraft and by the fact that expropriation of residential and industrial areas nearby would not be needed.

The planning and realization of new airspace borders and flight procedures, including the instrument approach systems: 3-5 million euro.
Repairs and re-asphalting of the present runways: 2 million euro.
Establishing a new separate apron (50.000 m2) for business flight operations e.g. north of the western end of runway 09-27, making it easy to enforce the security requirements of commercial traffic: 7 million euro including groundwork.
Building a new hangar (10.000 m2) as well as office space and passenger facilities next to the new apron: 10 million euro.

The total cost would be 22-24 million euro, about 20% of the estimated cost of building a new airport in Backas, Porvoo. The heavy traffic capacity suggested for Backas would be realized by boosting the efficiency of Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, thus keeping the logistics and flight connections of passenger traffic functional and the required investments substantially smaller.

Realizing an aviation museum of international standards would increase the cost of developing Malmi Airport by about 35-40 million euro (based on the construction costs of the Kiasma Modern Art Museum in Helsinki).

Summary

Taking into account the unused capacity of Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, the Friends of Malmi Airport Society considers the alternatives presented in the Airport Survey of Helsinki Region to be overdimensioned and expensive and to cause unreasonable changes in the environment of the proposed locations.

From the proposed airport alternatives, Backas in Porvoo is not located in Helsinki region even in the broadest meaning of the term. The alternatives based on just helicopter bases do not leave any operational preconditions to fixed-wing general aviation in the capital region, and are thus unrealistic.

The airspace arrangements and instrument approach procedures, rejected without explanation in the Airport Survey but crucial to the moderate development of Malmi Airport, are in the light of examples given by other European city airports entirely possible to realize in such a manner that the operations of Helsinki-Vantaa and Malmi Airports do not disturb each other.

Preserving Malmi Airport and developing it with moderation from the basis of the present runway system, especially taking into account the light and quiet flight equipment becoming common in the near future, offers the best prerequisites for the development of aviation activities in the capital region. The costs involved are but a fraction of the alternatives presented in the Airport Survey. The services and connections of passenger air traffic remain in the same area as the destination of the passengers, and the effects on the surroundings of the long-existing and widely appreciated Malmi Airport are minimal. The operational preconditions of pilot education and of the aviation activities of the authorities remain at their best and do not require large new investments.

Moderate development of Malmi Airport, respecting the historical milieu and the residents living nearby, would make it possible to establish an aviation museum of international standards at Malmi Airport to complement the other aviation activities.

Securing the continuity of the operations of Malmi Airport in the long term requires that the lands are transferred to the ownership of the State. This can be realized without a heavy economic burden by swapping lands so that City of Helsinki gets the ownership of an equal area of State-owned land elsewhere inside the city limits.

Finally, the Friends of Malmi Airport Society wishes to point out that the original survey assignment by the Ministry of Transport and Communications required the Survey to be conducted in such a manner that the aviation branch and related interest groups are listened to and the standpoints of the users, enterprises and communities of the airport are also taken into account. The Survey has, however, been prepared completely internally, and not a single representative of, e.g., the users of Malmi Airport has been heard during the process.

Helsinki, 30 October 2007

Friends of Malmi Airport Society

Tero Auranen Raine Haikarainen
chairman vice chairman