Skip to main content

Helsinki Airport is benefiting from a new runway surface

Finland’s main international airport, serving the capital Helsinki, is now benefiting from a runway resurfacing project. The rehabilitation work has been needed for one of the airport’s three runways due to a number of age-related defects. Helsinki Airport processes some 17 million passengers/year and due to a combination of the often severe winter weather and the heavy aircraft traffic, the runway condition was not of the standard required. Resurfacing work was scheduled by FINAVIA, with a budget of some
February 23, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Finnish contractor Lemminkäinen used three W 220 large Wirtgen milling machines for the job
Finland’s main international airport, serving the capital Helsinki, is now benefiting from a runway resurfacing project. The rehabilitation work has been needed for one of the airport’s three runways due to a number of age-related defects. Helsinki Airport processes some 17 million passengers/year and due to a combination of the often severe winter weather and the heavy aircraft traffic, the runway condition was not of the standard required.

Resurfacing work was scheduled by 6704 FINAVIA, with a budget of some €11 million, while the total area to be rehabilitated 121,000m². The runway rebuild work was planned in stages, so as to mill off 250mm of asphalt from the runway surface, but with this work being handled in three passes. This method was required in order to separate the reclaimed material into different grades. The first stage of the planning job was to remove a 100mm layer, with a second stage milling away a 50mm asphalt layer, followed by the third phase to remove the final 100mm thickness.

The work was carried out by the Finnish contractor 3064 Lemminkäinen, which has a fleet of 2395 Wirtgen milling machines. The firm used three W 220 large milling machines for the job, allowing it to remove the layers within the tight timeframe required.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Recycled asphalt cuts costs, maximises performance
    February 10, 2012
    The need to maximise road performance and cut costs has resulted in Indonesian contractors being keen to adopt cold recycling methods
  • Wirtgen’s rapid road rehab
    April 30, 2024

    It’s a picturesque Sicilian landscape of small roads stretching up and down hills and around tight curves. But when these small roads need big renovations, it takes a large machine to do it fast and efficiently. This is why a contractor chose the W 210 Fi large milling machine which can mill up the entire roadway in two-to-three passes.

  • A Wirtgen W 100 CFi mills about in Austria
    December 15, 2017
    In Austria, a Wirtgen W 100 CFi compact milling machine with deep milling unit is being used for trenching prior to the laying of broadband cables – just before it sets to work milling off entire pavements. Work is being done in Engelhartszell in the Upper Austrian district of Schärding, not far from the German border. Contractor Hemmelmair Frästechnik, from Linz, is making use of the W 100 CFi’s cutting-edge technology, in this case made from steel and carbide.
  • Wirtgen group machines flying high at İstanbul Yeni Havalimanı
    May 21, 2018
    Plant and machines from Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Benninghoven are playing a vital part in the construction of Istanbul’s new airport . Istanbul’s new airport is Turkey’s biggest infrastructure project ever. It is also expected to become the world's largest airport by estimated passenger numbers.