Airspace infringements

N.B: For most up-to-date information on airspace infringements, change language selection to Finnish. 

Airspace infringements 2023

There were 129 airspace infringements reported in Finland in 2023. This was below the average for 2013-2022 (150.3). In relation to airport operations, the number was slightly above the average. The number of airspace infringements decreased clearly compared to the previous year by approx. 30 cases.

Controlled airspace

Last year, 104 infringements of controlled airspace were reported. The number was slightly below the average for 2013-2022 (110.4). The infringements did not cause major consequences for other traffic.

Most of the cases (30) took place in the airspace of Helsinki Airport, but the number was below the average of the previous years. Other popular destinations included Tampere-Pirkkala, Turku and Jyväskylä. The numbers were below the average except for Tampere-Pirkkala, where they were above it.

Most of the airspace infringements were caused by general aviation, as in the previous years. However, the numbers remained clearly below the average. The air-space infringements in general aviation focused mainly on Helsinki Airport, Tampere-Pirkkala and Pori. The numbers in recreational aviation were lower, but an increase could be seen in them compared to the previous years. In 2023, how-ever, the number still remained at the average. The cases in recreational aviation also focused most often on the airspace of Helsinki Airport.

The second highest number of airspace infringements after general aviation was caused by drones, and it was also above the average. The number of cases caused by drones was at its highest in 2018, but started to decrease clearly after that. Since 2022, the number has been increasing again. Most of the cases occurred at Helsinki Airport, and a few of them were fairly blatant violations, in which the drone was flown in the airport area. Drones were also flown without permission near aerodromes in Northern Finland, especially in Ivalo last year.

Typical reasons for airspace infringements in general aviation include navigation errors causing a flight to enter the terminal control area either from below or laterally. In drone operations, very few operators themselves report about flying in controlled airspace, so there is very little information about the causes of airspace infringements in drone operations. The reports mainly come from manned aircraft pilots or ATC.

Prohibited areas

Airspace infringements can occur to prohibited areas which have been set up e.g. around nuclear plants.

In 2023, there was not a single report of an airspace infringement in a prohibited area. There have been approx. three of such cases per year on average in the previous years, which means that last year went exceptionally well. In previous years, typical areas included the prohibited area P15 above the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant and the prohibited area P20 above the Loviisa nuclear power plant.

Restricted areas

Airspace infringements can occur with restricted airspace set up to protect aviation from dangerous activities, such as shooting or blasting.

In 2023, aircraft were flown in restricted areas without permission 17 times. The number was below the average for 2013-2022 (21.8). The numbers have clearly decreased compared to the top figures in 2020, when aircraft were flown in a restricted area 34 times.

The violations last year focused on a variety of restricted areas around Finland. In previous years, aircraft have been flown most often into the restricted area R64 Santahamina in front of Helsinki, the Hanko R83 Syndalen area as well as the areas R73 Pohjankangas and R113 Huovinrinne close to Pori.

Airspace infringement monitoring and further information

Airspace infringements into controlled airspace increase the likelihood of a collision between aircraft. At the same time, unauthorised flying into a restricted area where shooting, blasting or other activities dangerous to aviation take place is an obvious risk to an individual aircraft. The purpose of prohibited areas is to protect nationally important targets, such as government buildings and nuclear plants. 

In addition to restricted and prohibited areas, danger areas (D) can be published for situations where busy aviation activity, unmanned aviation beyond visual line-of-sight or other operations dangerous to aviation take place and need to be communicated due to aviation safety. However, a danger area can be flown into without a separate clearance at the pilot-in-command’s discretion, meaning that they do not restrict the use of airspace as the restricted and prohibited areas do. In such cases, it is nevertheless preferable to discover the nature of the activity and how to contact the body that has reserved the area before flying into it. 

Prohibited areas are continuously active. Other airspaces are activated as necessary (e.g. controlled airspace is activated when an airport has aviation activity, and a restricted airspace is activated when the dangerous activities begin). The restricted and prohibited areas can be temporary or permanent. 

A more detailed situation review of airspace infringements with information about preventing them was included in the safety bulletin published in April 2022 (in Finnish) (External link).

Interactive report

Traficom publishes an interactive report containing further information on airspace infringements here (External link). (link opens to Microsoft app.power.com).