Runway Winter Maintenance in Finland

Snow removal in Helsinki Airport

Finavia is a Finnish airport operator with 21 airports. It enables international flight connections through its national airport network. The main airport is Helsinki Airport in southern Finland serving more than 20 million passengers yearly. Of Finavia's airports the northernmost is Ivalo and southernmost is Marienhamn in Åland Islands.

Finland is known of its harsh winter conditions. Even in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, the temperature range varies between -10 and +1 degrees Celsius during winter season. Snow depth on March is between 20-30 centimeters on average. Climate conditions create many challenges. Use of chemicals to de-ice runways is in most cases not an option. The structure of snow can be anything from light snow to heavy wet snow or even slush and undercooled water. Therefore the runway winter maintenance is done with brushes.

Sajas Group has provided brushes to Finavia's (and its predecessors) runway sweepers and sweeper-blowers since 1970's. Due to this cooperation our brushes have shaped to be the most high-end solution for runway winter maintenance in the most demanding operational conditions.