Helsinki Airport (in Vantaa) is ranked year after year as one of the best airports in the world, but that is not enough. Finavia aims to make Helsinki Airport one of the best airports in the world in terms of customer experience. Without a doubt The Helsinki Airport Development Programme is making excellent progress while there are new and exciting service concepts and offerings for both Finnish and international passengers being devised.
Well-being from a forest experience
Let’s start with the forest. According to numerous studies, spending time in nature undeniably has a positive effect on well-being. Walking in a forest reduces stress as your heartbeat slows down and your muscle tension decreases. Stress-free travel is now also possible at Helsinki Airport where Metsä/Skogen offers a relaxing nature experience to counter the effects of the hectic airport environment.
“Metsä/Skogen seeks to teach people how to live their lives without stress. The idea of offering nature sounds, scents and flavours is to create the most authentic Finnish forest experience possible, which helps people calm down in the middle of a hectic day, and offers a unique glimpse of Finnish nature,” says Carita Peltonen, CEO of Metsä/Skogen.
Metsä/Skogen is a place where you can relax and calm down—for example, by taking a virtual hike in a forest. You can also become a forest protector as you can select a piece of Lapland forest to protect from a forest menu created together with Helsinki Foundation.
“Metsä/Skogen represents exactly the kind of new Finnish sustainable expertise that we want to offer our passengers. The unique lifestyle concept broadens the range of services available at Helsinki Airport and create daring solutions to improve the airport’s customer experience and Finland’s brand”, says Nora Immonen, Finavia’s Director for Commercial Services Business Unit (Helsinki Airport).
Wood Wonders – eye candy for art lover
Helsinki Airport draws on wood also in the form of an art exhibition. Wood Wonders is an art exhibition showcasing the vast potential of wood at the 2B Baggage claim hall.
A collaborative effort between a multidisciplinary team at Aalto University and Finavia, the exhibition highlights wood as a practical and versatile construction material and demonstrates the latest developments in wood research. The exhibition also offers a first taste of Finland for the passengers of Helsinki Airport.
Exhibitions at the airports are a part of crafting Finavia’s customer experience. One of the core goals of Finavia’s customer experience is to offer the Finnish experience to airport passengers, and this new exhibition plays an important role in that. Wooden details and interior solutions are also displayed in other areas of the Helsinki Airport, such as in the wood-themed east wing.
Wood Wonders will be on display until the beginning of 2021.
Relief for thousands of travelling pets
Did you know that over 10 000 dogs travel through Helsinki Airport yearly? Now flying with a pet is even more convenient as Helsinki Airport has two pet relief areas for animals: one at the main entrance of Terminal 2 and one in the non-Schengen area.
“Around 10,000 dogs pass through Helsinki Airport every year. Long flights and transfers at the airport can be stressful for an animal if it can’t do its business. We want to offer all passengers an exceptionally good customer experience, so we built two pet relief areas at Helsinki Airport,” says Eveliina Vironen, Customer Experience Specialist at Finavia.
The pet toilet has been designed with dogs in mind, but other pets are also welcome.
Pet toilet – what is it and where can you find it?
In practice, the pet toilet is an area of a couple of square metres built on top of a platform covered with artificial turf. Liquids will run through the turf into a basin and into the drain. The turf is easy to rinse with a shower after use. Solid matter is collected into a baggie and deposited into a waste bin – just like when you walk your dog out on the street. To maintain a high level of hygiene, Finavia regularly cleans the pet relief areas.
One of Helsinki Airport’s pet relief areas is outside the terminal, and the other one is inside, in the secure area. The indoors relief area is in the non-Schengen area of T2, at gate 51A–D. The toilet is in a separate, closed-off space. The outdoors relief area is next to the main entrance of T2, separated from pedestrian traffic.
KAINALO:
Traveller tip: Looking for an awesome Instagram picture at the airport?
Head to the square at the Non-Schengen area where you can experience the Finnish nature from a wavy 360 ° LED display with sound scene and interactive wall projections which take you to the Finnish nature with four seasons. The landscape at the display changes every 10 minutes from lake scenery to northern lights and wintery mountains. You can hear sounds of nature, such as the roar of the forest stream and the wind. On the interactive wall you can draw works of art such as snowflakes, northern lights and autumn leaves. And the whole square is an awesome background for great pics to share at the social media!
Text: Mia Heiskanen
Source and photos: Finavia
