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A Scenic Flight Over Helsinki – Flying Over The Finnish Capital

A scenic flight over Helsinki is an incredible way to get to know the Finnish capital. Find out all about this unique experience. 

As I boarded my flight from London to Helsinki, I couldn’t help but snap away out of the window as we were coming in to land. Fairytale forests, the impressive Suomenlinna Fortress, and beautiful archipelago filled my plane window. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Over the next few days, while visiting the city as part of Visit Helsinki’s #HelsinkiSecret campaign, I explored the city on foot, by tram, boat, kayak and big wheel. However I never expected for a moment that I’d be taking to the skies in a 4-seater Cessna!

Jutta, a friendly local contacted me via twitter asking if I fancied a unique birds-eye view of the city.

What could she possibly mean? We continued to chat back and forth and days later arranged to meet at Helsinki Central Station. From there we travelled 30 minutes by bus to Malmi Airport. Just 10km from the city, the small airport boasts around 40,000 landings every year.

Ready to fly at Malmi Airport
Ready to fly at Malmi Airport
Malmi Airport, Helsinki
Malmi Airport, Helsinki

But that’s not the end of Malmi’s story. If plans go ahead, the airport will be closed by the end of the year. Money issues, plans to build apartments and various other bits of politics mean that the experience I had may no longer be possible. It’s a key airport for training the country’s pilots, as well as being used by the army. If the airport closes, it’ll mean not only saying goodbye to an important aviation sector, but more than that – it’ll break up a strong community.

What is it like to take a scenic flight over Helsinki? 

Shortly after 9am we met Raine, a pilot with over 30 years of experience. He loves flying small planes, so sure enough, we made our way out to the airfield to see our Cessna. The 4-seater was as much of a tin can as I’d imagined; my stomach filled with butterflies, and I started to sweat. Raine pulled it out from its spot and we hopped on board. Seatbelt on and headset attached, we taxied down to the runway. No security checks or phones on silent – this wasn’t like any flight I’d been on before!

Enjoying the flight over Helsinki
Nervously waiting for take off
Ready for take off at Malmi Airport
Ready for take off at Malmi Airport

I’d never travelled on such a small plane, so I was pretty apprehensive. How safe was it? How high would we go? Who was Raine? How had we ended up here?!

View from a cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki

Flying over Helsinki in a private plane

Seconds later we were in the skies and the views were incredible! From the thick forest surrounding the airport, to the large expanse of water, beautiful islands, and Helsinki city, I couldn’t stop snapping. From 1000 ft, Suomenlinna: A World Heritage Site and the Helsinki Finnair Skywheel looked tiny… as did the enormous cruise ships which came and went throughout the day.

View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki

After around 20 minutes exploring Helsinki from the skies, we landed smoothly back at Malmi Airport.

View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki
View from a Cessna flight over Helsinki

I couldn’t help but feel it would be sad if others didn’t get to enjoy this experience. Hopefully Malmi Aiport will remain open and active, but if not, thanks to Jutta, Raine and the team for a once in a lifetime experience. It really was the highlight of my time in Helsinki. You can help support the effort by signing the petition here.

View of Malmi Airport from our Cessna flight over Helsinki
View of Malmi Airport from our Cessna flight over Helsinki

Find out other things to do during a stopover in Helsinki.

Thanks to Visit Helsinki for inviting me to be part of the #HelsinkiSecret Residence and to Finnair for providing the flights from London. You can find out more about the campaign here!

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Helsinki by Plane

With a passion for food, fun and adventure, Chloe is the content creator behind one of the UK's top travel blogs Wanderlust Chloe. From volcano boarding in Nicaragua, to sailing around Sicily and eating her way around Japan, her travels have taken her to some of the coolest spots on the planet. Named Travel Influencer of the Year in 2022, Chloe regularly works with a number of tourism boards, producing inspirational travel content across multiple platforms. Find out more about Chloe here.

2 thoughts on “A Scenic Flight Over Helsinki – Flying Over The Finnish Capital”

  1. Thanks for the nice story of your experience!
    To get an idea of just how lame the city’s “need space for housing” excuse to close down the airport (one of Europe’s 7 Most Endangered Cultural Heritage Sites 2016) is, see the YouTube video at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu6Gjy-BvDI – it has subtitles in English.

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