With spa and saunas, Finland set to showcase new airport terminal

HELSINKI - The land of Santa and saunas, Finland is set to showcase its new airport terminal here Thursday, with a luxurious spa, well-being services and a modern, well-appointed lounge as its main attractions.

“The Via Spa environment will be unique in the airport world,” said Kari Stolbow, the director for Indian subcontinent with the Nordic country’s flag carrier Finnair, ahead of the grand opening of the terminal at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport here.

The spa has a fir sauna from the Alps, a stone sauna, a steam sauna and Finnish saunas from where there is a spectacular view over a mineral water pool to the airport taxiway and the apron, Stolbow explained to IANS.

Apart from separate saunas, the spa also has special rooms for express treatments, in addition to the more leisurely services. It also offers foot treatments to give that much-needed relief after flights and a mineral water pool for health baths.

“I do hope visitors from India can avail of the facilities, even if they are in transit through Helsinki,” said Stolbow.

The new terminal has been built by airport operator Finavia with support from Finnair, which marked its 85th anniversary last year.

Officials of the two Finnish firms said the new extended airport terminal has the capacity to handle 15-16 million passengers and 13.5 million pieces of luggage per annum. The luggage handling system is over 10-km long with a top capacity of 7,500 bags per hour.