Helsinki Airport to adopt int’l time standard

Finavia, the operator of the country’s airports will start using departure times that follow the international standards at Helsinki Airport from Wednesday.

The announced flight departure time will, in the future, be the time when a plane starts moving from the bridge or the outside spot, said a Finavia press release on Tuesday.

With the change, the departure times and their punctuality information announced on all Finavia’s digital channels will become more specific, because, in the future, the departure status will be based on the same measurable phase of the plane’s turn process as the schedule.

“Until now, the departure time of the planes leaving from Helsinki Airport has been the time of the plane leaving the runway. Going forward, the flights’ scheduled and realised departure times will be announced as so-called off-block times, which means the time the plane left the bridge or the outside spot,” said Finavia Vice President Heini Noronen-Juhola.

The change in the flight departure status at Helsinki Airport is a part of Finavia’s larger digital programme.

As a part of the digital programme, the phases of a plane’s turn around process will be specified. The programme will also improve access to flight information from the flight information interface.

The departure time for planes leaving from Finavia’s provincial airports will continue to be the time when the plane takes off from the runway.