Helsinki-Vantaa Airport increases coronavirus testing

The airport expanded its coronavirus testing on January 8, 2021. According to the new procedure, passengers are tested already within the gate area, and mass testing is increased. The airport strives to test all passengers that have no certificate of a negative coronavirus test, a medical certificate of having had COVID-19, or having been vaccinated against the disease.

The City of Vantaa is responsible for the health security of the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, whereas HUS Diagnostic Center is in charge of sampling and analytics.

International transit passengers are not directed to testing and neither are passengers on domestic flights. For the time being there is no possibility of testing passengers once they have crossed the border in the public area where passengers were earlier tested.

“Helsinki-Vantaa Airport increases its entry testing and improves its health security. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has ordered Vantaa to widen the scope of coronavirus testing conducted at the airport. Likewise, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) recommends that all passengers arriving from risk countries be tested,” tells City of Vantaa deputy mayor Timo Aronkytö.

“The test remains voluntary to flight passengers, but we highly recommend that all passengers take it. If they do not take the test, it is of the utmost importance that they stay in quarantine, and I recommend that they take the test in their own municipality of residence or temporary municipality of residence within 24 hours from entering the country,” Aronkytö adds.

Increased testing may cause overcrowding and queues at the airport, even though we have been trying to increase the number of employees during rush hours.

FINENTRY service guides passengers arriving in Finland during the pandemic

On January 7, 2021, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Helsinki harbors adopted the FINENTRY.fi service that provides those planning a trip to Finland with up-to-date instructions and guides them to coronavirus sampling. 

“We have increased our sampling capacity at the airport, but to avoid queues at the airport, it is important that passengers take the test already before their travel. We recommend passengers to make an appointment for the coronavirus test through the Finentry service,” says Lasse Lehtonen, Director of Diagnostic Services at HUS Diagnostic Center.

Finentry's appointment service does not currently work with Finnish identity numbers, but this functionality will be available soon. Passengers permanently living in Uusimaa can make an appointment for a coronavirus test through Koronabot in accordance with Finentry’s instructions. HUS’ analyzing capacity is more than sufficient to test passengers’ samples.

On the FINENTRY service incoming passengers can chart—before or during their travel—instructions for traveling to Finland, make an appointment for a coronavirus test in Finland, receive instructions for coming to the test as well as the results of the coronavirus test as test messages.