The Helsinki Airport Development Programme, awarded Project of the Year, will improve Helsinki Airport’s competitive position in inter-airport competition and international air traffic, especially in wide-body traffic to Asia. The project, which cost around €1 billion, started in 2014 and is now around 90% complete.
Helsinki Airport has become one of the most important airports in Europe, so the development of wide-body traffic and its operating conditions is one of the key objectives of Finavia’s investment programme.
According to Martti Nurminen, Finavia’s Programme Manager, the development programme will both improve passenger comfort and bring clear benefits to airline operations. Increasing the number of passenger bridges from 8 to 16 will speed up airline operations. Commercial services at the airport also increased.
Four phases and 25 projects
The airport development programme consisted of three phases, involving a total of 21 projects. Phases I to III were a separate financial package. Once the programme was underway, a separate Phase IV was added, with four more projects. In total, 25 projects were managed.
“We used the MSP (Managing Successful Programs) framework as our programme management model, which was developed on Finavia’s own project model,” Nurminen says. What was new was that the first projects were launched in 2014, while the master planning and preliminary studies were being carried out.
Deployments were a tough effort
Nurminen considers the most challenging steps in the big picture to be successful deployments. At the beginning of the programme, the deployment phase was too short and not enough time was initially allocated for the operational trial.
“An important part of the project’s success was the implementation of projects through collaborative models, such as alliances. The programme also created a developmental project management model. In collaborative models, the client takes quite a lot of risk on things. The models we use allow for flexible management throughout the projects.”
At Helsinki Airport, collaborative models were used for the largest projects, but the programme also used several different types of contract. For each project, the best delivery option was selected.
For more information: www.finavia.fi/fi/helsinki-vantaan-kehitysohjelma
Photos by Finavia Corporation
Text by Marja Keränen, Medita Oy Communications Agency
