The Friends of Malmi Airport Association has sent a request to postpone the looming eviction of the airport operator, Malmi Airfield Association, to the Ministry of Justice and the Administrative Court. Execution of the eviction would significantly violate the case law by resolving several pending administrative proceedings.
Requests submitted
Ministry of Justice, 26 February 2021
SUBJECT MATTER: Helsinki-Malmi Airport, preventing the eviction of the Airfield Association
Dear Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson,
The City of Helsinki has sought for the eviction of Malmi Airfield Association from Helsinki-Malmi Airport. In the background is a dispute in the district court concerning the termination of the land lease agreement for the runway area. There is a decision of the district court on the matter, to which permission to appeal has been sought from the Court of Appeal.
In December 2020, the Court of Appeal has decided to allow the eviction sought by the City of Helsinki to be carried out, even though the pending dispute over the termination of the lease agreement of the airport operator, Malmi Airport Association, which operates the airport, has yet to reach the Court of Appeal. The city has taken action on the fastest possible schedule.
The original eviction date (31 January 2021) was postponed until 14 March 2021, as it would have been completely impossible to relocate dozens of aircraft safely to other airports.
Also in mid-March, the situation of Malmi’s aviation entrepreneurs, aircraft owners and aviation clubs is practically impossible, as other Finnish airports at a reasonable distance do not have safe, weatherproof storage space for aircraft nor the capacity for the volume of Malmi Airport’s operations. A government-announced COVID lockout prevents relocation in practice.
According to report 26/2014 of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/77839) 80-90% of Malmi Airport’s flight operations are other than hobby-based, and the only airports at a reasonable distance, Nummela and Hyvinkää, do not have enough capacity even for Malmi’s hobby aviation.
Article 18 of the Constitution requires the labor force to be protected by government. The situation of Malmi’s aviation entrepreneurs, who make up a significant part of the entire Finnish general aviation business, is completely unreasonable because the customer base of these companies is in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
As the Enforcement Authority is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, we hope that the Ministry of Justice will as soon as possible instruct it to postpone the eviction of aviation activities from Malmi until the decision made by the Cabinet in its framework negotiations on 25 March 2014, requiring a substitutive airfield for Malmi’s civil aviation, further elaborated on by Parliament in the context of the Lex Malmi bill, has been fulfilled.
Helsinki 26 February 2021,
Friends of Malmi Airport Association
Administrative Court: STAY OF EXECUTION, URGENT
Friends of Malmi Airport Association has the matter dnro 0586/19/2299 pending at Helsinki Administrative Court.
Related to the matter, Helsinki District Court has decided on 23 December 2020 to allow the enforcement of its decision before our case has been resolved and before the actual decision has become final. Following the decision of the District Court, the City of Helsinki has applied for eviction from the Enforcement Authority.
Under section 143 of the Municipal Act, enforcement of a decision may not be undertaken if the claim for rectification or appeal becomes useless as a result of enforcement. According to Section 49f of the Administrative Procedure Act, an administrative decision may not be enforced until it has become final.
We demand that Helsinki Administrative Court urgently impose an injunction on the City of Helsinki until the original decision has become final. Otherwise, our pending appeal becomes useless within the meaning of section 143 of the Municipal Act. The original decision of the City of Helsinki is not of such a nature that it should be implemented immediately. Nor is there a public interest in requiring enforcement of the decision.
Friends of Malmi Airport Association