Rovaniemi Airport () is an international airport serving Rovaniemi, Finland, approximately north of Rovaniemi city centre. The Arctic Circle crosses the runway close to its northern end. It is the second busiest airport in Finland after Helsinki-Vantaa, as measured by the numbers of passengers and landings.
History
Construction Construction of Rovaniemi Airport began in 1939. Two grass-covered landing strips were completed in 1940. In June that year Aero O/Y, the predecessor of Finnair, began a scheduled route from Helsinki through Tampere, Vaasa, Kokkola, Oulu and Kemi to Rovaniemi, continuing north to Sodankylä and Petsamo. The airport pre-dated its German military use. It was built as part of Finland's developing civil aviation network rather than as a German wartime airfield. German military interest in Rovaniemi nevertheless preceded the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The Luftwaffe had established a communications station at Rovaniemi by late 1940. In June 1941, the Finnish Ministry of Defence and the German Luftgaustab Finnland agreed that the recently completed airfield would be placed at the disposal of German forces from 1 July. Although the formal agreements were not signed until April 1943, their provisions were applied retrospectively. Luftwaffe liaison personnel were already present at Rovaniemi air traffic control before Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941.
Consequently, during the Second World War, the Airport developed from a newly constructed civilian airfield into the most important Luftwaffe air base in Finnish Lapland. While the airfield opened to civilian traffic in 1940, following increased Finnish–Nazi military cooperation it was placed at the disposal of German forces from 1 July 1941.
German aircraft began arriving before the formal transfer of the airfield. Aircraft of Aufklärungskette (F) Lappland, a long-range reconnaissance detachment commanded by Oberleutnant Konrad Knabe, arrived from Kirkenes and Banak in German-occupied Norway on 17–18 June 1941. The detachment included three Dornier Do 17 aircraft equipped for aerial reconnaissance, a Junkers Ju 52 transport, a Focke-Wulf aircraft and three Fieseler Fi 156 Storch liaison aircraft. They were followed by Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and aircraft of IV.(St.)/Lehrgeschwader 1, equipped with Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The airfield was placed under Kommando Flughafenbereich 27/III Rovaniemi, the German command responsible for the installation.
The Germans greatly enlarged the airfield and constructed hangars, barracks, workshops, aircraft dispersal areas, ammunition stores, anti-aircraft positions and other military infrastructure. By January 1943 at least 31 aircraft hangars, 120 accommodation and office barracks and 24 large storage or shed buildings had been recorded around the field. The original landing strips were enlarged and reconstructed with gravel and sand surfaces. The principal runway was approximately long and a secondary runway approximately long. Mikkonen gives the expanded wartime airfield area as approximately .. Luftwaffe reconnaissance, fighter, dive-bomber, transport and training units operated from Rovaniemi during the Continuation War. When Finland ended its military cooperation with Germany in September 1944, the airfield became part of the theatre of the Lapland War. German forces began dismantling and destroying the base on 30 September, and the last German combat flying unit left on 11 October. Finnish troops subsequently cleared mines and unexploded ordnance and restored the field to limited operational use on 2 November 1944. Regular civilian air services resumed in 1948.
Around the airfield the Nazis constructed:
aircraft hangars and open aircraft shelters; taxiways and dispersal areas; accommodation and administrative barracks; workshops and repair facilities; kitchens, dining halls and recreational buildings; ammunition and bomb-storage areas; anti-aircraft gun positions and defensive trenches; and supply and maintenance facilities.
Finnish civilians participated in the construction. Men and women from the nearby Saarenkylä area who were not serving at the front worked on forest clearance and earth-moving, while Finnish construction workers helped erect the first barrack camp.
The scale of the installation increased rapidly. During a visit by representatives of the Finnish liaison headquarters on 13 January 1943, at least 31 aircraft hangars were counted. The surrounding complex contained approximately 120 residential and office barracks and 24 larger storage and shed buildings. Food stocks were maintained for 2,000 people for four weeks, and the principal dining hall could accommodate 400 people at a time.
Mikkonen estimates that more than 200 structures of different kinds existed across the wider airfield area during its period of greatest activity in 1942–43.
During the German-controlled phase, the airfield was used exclusively by German forces. Mikkonen describes Rovaniemi as the Luftwaffe's most important base in Lapland, serving flying, anti-aircraft and air-observation units associated with Luftflotte 5.
Units based there at various times included:
Aufklärungskette (F) Lappland, a reconnaissance unit; IV./Lehrgeschwader 1, subsequently redesignated within Sturzkampfgeschwader 5; I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 5; elements of I.(Z)/Jagdgeschwader 77; Ergänzungsstaffel I/Sturzkampfgeschwader 5, a replacement and training unit; 9./Sturzkampfgeschwader 151; Nachtschlachtgruppe 8; and several Luftwaffe anti-aircraft and support formations.
A Stuka replacement and training unit operated at Rovaniemi during 1942 and 1943. By 1942 much of the actual combat flying had shifted to airfields closer to the front, while Rovaniemi increasingly functioned as a major rear-area base for training, maintenance, transport and command functions.
Aircraft types associated with the wartime base included the Junkers Ju 87, Junkers Ju 88, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Dornier Do 17, Junkers Ju 52, Fieseler Storch and other reconnaissance and transport aircraft.
Rovaniemi was also connected by regular Luftwaffe transport flights with Oslo, while flights to Berlin operated when required. Labour and prisoners of war Expansion and operation of the Nazi airfield relied on a mixture of German military personnel, paid Finnish civilian labour, foreign labour-service personnel and prisoners of war.
A Finnish liaison report dated 14 January 1943 recorded that the Germans had approximately 500 prisoners of war available for work in the Rovaniemi airfield area, together with 30–40 Dutch labour-service personnel and 70 paid Finnish employees of the Finnish road and water-construction administration.
A small prisoner-of-war camp of two or three barracks surrounded by barbed wire stood beside the road passing the airfield. A second camp, containing four barracks according to a wartime German plan, was located approximately one kilometre north of the field.
Prisoners were also used in work supporting the operation of the base. The airfield required substantial quantities of firewood for heating, and Russian prisoners of war were employed in logging areas at Poikajärvi and Norvajärvi from which timber was supplied to the airfield.
The use of prisoners formed part of a wider German labour system in northern Finland. As the supply of paid Finnish workers declined, German forces increasingly relied on Organisation Todt labour, workers imported from German-occupied countries and prisoner labour for construction, transport, forestry and other military work.
Soviet air attacks and air defence Soviet aircraft attacked Rovaniemi and its airfield during the opening days of the Continuation War. The airfield was bombed on 25 June 1941, and bomb craters from the attack remained identifiable at the western edge of the airfield decades later.
Subsequent Soviet bombing of Rovaniemi was comparatively infrequent. Mikkonen attributes this in part to the presence of German fighter aircraft and strong anti-aircraft defences around the town and airfield.
The German air-defence network included Freya early-warning radar and Würzburg D fire-control radar. Anti-aircraft positions around the airfield included both and guns, supplemented by machine-gun positions intended to defend against low-level attack.
Operational history Services were first operated by Aero O/Y. On 21.6.1940 Aero O/Y started operations of the "Lapland Express"-flight route from Helsinki to Petsamo via Tampere, Vaasa, Kokkola, Oulu, Kemi, Rovaniemi and Sodankylä. The route was operated by Junkers Ju 52/3m-aircraft, with a travel time of 8.5 hours. The runway was extended to the length of 3002m in 1981.
In 2020s, the airport has seen a major increase in passengers following a rise in Lapland tourism, with passenger numbers rising by 31.1% from 2023 to 2024 and 29% from 2024 to 2025. Citing increased tourist traffic in Rovaniemi Airport Finavia announced plans to expand the airport terminal by "nearly 1000 square meters" in April 2025. The extension increased the landside area of the terminal at a cost of €3 million and was completed on October 28th, 2025.
Facilities
Rovaniemi Airport is one of three airports in Finland that have jet bridges (the other two are Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Oulu Airport). The airport is managed by Finavia. It is connected to Rovaniemi city centre by an airport bus, and there are also multiple bus connections around Lapland, including to major winter sports centers.
Rovaniemi Airport is the second-busiest airport in Finland after Helsinki airport. Santa Claus Village and Santa Park are within . The airport is about away from Rovaniemi city centre, so that many restaurants and hotels are nearby. The busiest time for the airport is in the Christmas season, when many people go on Santa Flights. In April 2025, Finavia announced plans to expand the airport by approximately €3 million because of the constantly growing tourism to Lapland; the expansion work was completed in October of the same year.
In addition to civil traffic, the runway is also used by F-18 fighter interceptors of (Lapland Air Wing). The (Finnish Border Guard Air Patrol Squadron) is also located nearby.
Airlines and destinations The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Rovaniemi Airport:
Statistics In 2025, the airport served about 1.1 million passengers. The main season of charter traffic from the United Kingdom and many other European countries lasts from the end of November until the middle of January annually.
+ Annual passenger statistics for Rovaniemi Airport Year Domestic passengers %change International passengers % change Total passengers % change 1998 286,548 0 41,104 0 327,652 0 1999 294,110 2.6 52,316 27.3 346,426 5.7 2000 288,343 -2.0 55,790 6.6 344,133 -0.7 2001 280,407 -2.8 71,637 28.4 352,044 2.3 2002 257,043 -8.3 83,061 15.9 340,104 -3.4 2003 277,859 8.1 87,039 4.8 364,898 7.3 2004 289,145 4.1 105,405 21.1 394,550 8.1 2005 295,205 2.1 89,317 -15.3 384,522 -2.5 2006 330,910 12.1 101,372 13.5 432,282 12.4 2007 348,275 5.2 101,661 0.3 449,936 4.1 2008 308,870 -11.3 91,697 -9.8 400,567 -11.0 2009 245,963 -20.4 63,642 -30.6 309,605 -22.7 2010 246,464 0.2 63,244 -0.6 309,708 0.0 2011 329,990 33.9 66,835 5.7 396,825 28.1 2012 345,763 4.8 58,129 -13.0 403,892 1.8 2013 363,670 5.2 63,697 9.6 427,367 5.8 2014 376,183 3.4 68,378 7.3 444,561 4.0 2015 404,712 7.6 73,635 7.7 478,347 7.6 2016 397,799 -1.7 90,058 22.3 487,857 2.0 2017 455,589 14.5 123,881 37.6 579,470 18.8 2018 512,033 12.4 132,111 6.6 644,144 11.2 2019 540,467 5.6 120,657 -8.7 661,124 2.6 2020 219,259 -59.4 48,863 -59.5 268,122 -59.4 2021 198,119 -9.6 56,771 16.2 254,890 -4.9 2022 401,694 102.8 159,040 180.1 560,734 120.0 2023 454,775 13.2 280,303 76.2 735,078 31.1 2024 527,773 16.0 420,418 50.0 948,151 29.0 2025 516,184 -2.2 603,838 44.3 1,120,022 18.4
See also