Thaindian News

HELSINKI, FINLAND (BNO NEWS) — Helsinki Airport’s new check-in and baggage facilities are expected to open on Tuesday, Finavia said on Monday.

Phase 1 of the Helsinki Airport redevelopment is scheduled to be completed on Tuesday and will offer spacious new passenger areas in Terminal two, increasing check-in and baggage handling capacity. A new baggage handling center, which has been under testing, will also be phased into operations.

Finavia began renovation work on Terminal 2 in August 2009 with the objective of the operation to connect the existing baggage conveyor systems to the new, state-of-the-art, baggage handling center in the new extension.

During the renovation, Finavia also updated the 40-year-old terminal. Ventilation and electrical facilities, among others, were replaced with more energy-efficient equipment.

“The check-in and baggage handling operations will run more smoothly,” Helsinki Airport Director Juha-Pekka Pystynen said. “We’ll have more capacity and we can take advantage of the latest technologies.”

Seventeen new check-in counters and bright, updated waiting areas will be opened to the public on Tuesday. At the same time, the first bags will be whisked from the new area through a tunnel to the baggage center in the terminal extension.

The baggage centre’s processing system is based on state-of-the-art technologies employed at major international airports, and an additional 20,000 square meters of space will be available for handling and sorting baggage.

The extra space and modern technology will dramatically increase the airport’s capability to process luggage. Starting from Tuesday, the airport will be able to process 13.5 million bags per year, an increase of 43 percent.

A 280-meter tunnel under Terminal 2 was cleared beneath the baggage center, connecting the existing and new baggage handling facilities. The overall length of the new baggage handling system is over 10 kilometers and its peak capacity is 7,000 bags an hour.

“This increase in capacity will be seen at the passenger service level and in the smoothness of flight operations to Asia,” Pystynen said.

The opening of the new facilities will bring some changes to the check-in areas, as check-in for Finnair’s long haul flights will be moved to a new area. Check-in for other airlines operating out of Terminal 2 will gradually be moved to the new area.

The only airline to change terminals will be Dutch airliner KLM. The KLM flight from Helsink Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Tuesday morning at 7.10 a.m. Finland time will be operated from Terminal 1. Afterwards, check-in and baggage checking for KLM flights will be moved to Terminal 2.

Phase two and three of the renovation plan will now be conducted, and the airport will have an entirely updated look in early 2012.