NetJets is the world’s biggest company offering private flights. It operates 7- to-14-seat aircraft and flies to almost any destination in the world.
NetJets has recently analyzed the services of Malmi Airport and found it suitable for daytime operations.
NetJets is thus able to operate at Helsinki-Malmi Airport, which is the only free-schedule international airport in Finland within 150 km of the capital. Making use of small free-schedule airports is already commonplace in business aviation elsewhere in Europe and in the United States.
According to the forecast of the EU’s air navigation safety organization Eurocontrol (p. 20), the volume of air traffic in the EU will double or triple by the year 2050. At such traffic volumes, Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport will no longer be suitable for the needs of unscheduled business aviation.
Unscheduled flights must already apply for a time slot to use Helsinki-Vantaa’s runways three hours in advance, although the flight time to Stockholm, St. Petersburg and other metropolises in the region is much shorter than that. Malmi Airport, on the other hand, serves unscheduled business aviation without such limitations, which is the reason why NetJets shows interest in it.
From the point of view of the rest of Europe as well as the numerous small airfields in rural Finland, the smooth accessibility of the capital region will depend on Malmi Airport already in the coming decades.