This situation overview provides information on airspace infringements. The information is produced by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom and updated in English annually. In Finnish the information is updated twice a year.
N.B: For most up-to-date information on airspace infringements, change language selection to Finnish.
Airspace infringements 2025
In 2025, 131 airspace infringements were reported in Finland. The number was slightly below the 10-year average (143) and also lower than the previous year. The number decreased in all sectors, but especially clearly in recreational aviation.
Controlled airspace
108 airspace infringements affecting controlled airspace were reported, which was at the level of previous years. The cases did not result in serious incidents. The majority were again directed at the airspace of Helsinki Airport. The number was slightly smaller than in previous years. Next most were flown into the airspace of Jyväskylä, Rovaniemi, Pirkkala, and the Area Control Centre. The numbers were mainly approximately at the level of the average of previous years, although a decrease was visible in Helsinki and an increase in Rovaniemi compared to the previous year.
General aviation caused the majority of infringements, as typically in previous years. Situations caused by recreational aviation were on the decline.
Reasons for airspace infringements were manifold, but the most frequently mentioned was inadvertence or forgetting. In a couple of cases, an incorrect air pressure value had also been set in the altimeter, and as a result, the aircraft climbed too high.
An interactive report presenting the airspace infringement situation more broadly can be seen on the Tieto.traficom website. From the beginning of 2025, it has also presented an estimate of the cause, if it is apparent from the report text.
In the spring of 2025, Fintraffic ANS published the Fintraffic Sky website (External link), which presents airspaces and restrictions concerning them in a similar way as in the Flyk application (External link). For example, drone pilots can easily check in these applications whether the device can be flown in the location in question. In both, a flight notification can also be made, and in Fintraffic Sky also a flight request to local air traffic control, if operations take place in the vicinity of an airport. In addition, the flight must be agreed upon by phone at the time of flying.
Prohibited areas
Airspace infringements can target prohibited areas established around nuclear power plants, for example.
In 2025, only one unauthorized flight into prohibited areas was reported. Indeed, the numbers have been in a pleasing decline in recent years. Also in 2024, only one flight into a prohibited area occurred. Both cases in the last two years affected area P10, i.e., the area around the Loviisa nuclear power plant.
Restricted areas
Airspace infringements may target restricted areas established to protect aviation from dangerous activities, such as shootings or detonations.
The number of airspace infringements affecting restricted areas was at the level of the average. 14 infringements were reported, whereas the number had been 21 in the previous year. Locations were fairly evenly distributed among restricted areas across Finland.
Different airspaces and where to find more information about them
Airspace infringements to controlled airspace, i.e. airspace where air traffic control services are provided, increase the risk of collision between aircraft.
Flying without permission into a Restricted area (R), where shooting, detonations or other activities dangerous to aviation are taking place, poses an obvious danger to an individual aircraft. The purpose of Prohibited areas (P), on the other hand, is to protect objects of national importance, such as government buildings and nuclear power plants.
In addition to restricted and prohibited areas, danger areas (D) may be published in situations where, for example, there is active aviation activity in the area, unmanned aviation beyond visual line of sight or other activities that are dangerous to other aviation. However, flights into danger areas may be permitted at the discretion of the aircraft commander without separate permission, so they do not restrict the use of airspace in the same way as restricted or prohibited areas. In these cases, it is also recommended to find out the nature of the activity in the area before flying and to contact the party that reserved the area, if possible.
Prohibited areas are always active, while other airspaces, such as controlled airspace and restricted areas, are activated as needed. For example, controlled airspace is active when there is flight activity at an airport, and a restricted area is activated when an activity hazardous to aviation begins. Restricted and prohibited areas can be either temporary or permanent.
In addition, some airspaces have been designated as UAS airspace zones. These can be either prohibiting or restricting the operation of unmanned aircraft, or allowing, where operations carried out with unmanned aircraft are exempted from some of the requirements relating to them. These are specified in aviation regulation OPS M1-29 and its annexes.
In addition to the above areas, certain airspace areas have been designated as Radio Mandatory Zones (RMZ), where aircraft must be equipped with radio equipment and its use is mandatory. These areas are regulated in Aviation Regulation OPS M1-17.
Some areas are designated as Transponder Mandatory Zones (TMZ), where aircraft must be equipped with a pressure altitude transponder and its use is mandatory. These are regulated in Aviation Regulation OPS M1-31.
You can find all aviation regulations on Traficom's website (External link).
Permanent restricted, prohibited and danger areas are published in Part ENR 5 of the Finnish Aviation Manual (External link)(AIP). Temporary areas, such as those established to protect police or rescue operations, may be published at short notice. Information on temporary areas can be found in NOTAM bulletins, which are available at https://www.ais.fi/bulletins/ (External link).
In addition to the long-established Flyk application (External link), Fintraffic ANS published the Fintraffic Sky application (External link) in the spring of 2025. Both present airspaces notified as active and information on activities dangerous to aviation from the AIP, AIP Supplements, NOTAMs, and AUP/UUP plans (Airspace Use Plan). In addition, various prohibitive and restrictive UAS airspace zones are presented. However, the user must note that both are only informative tools and do not exempt the user from the responsibility to familiarize themselves with the necessary NOTAM and AUP/UUP information.
The Fintraffic Sky application is also nowadays the primary place for filing a flight plan. It also presents, among other things, various weather information.
The European Action Plan for Airspace Infringement Risk Reduction (EAPAIRR) contains a comprehensive list of recommendations to reduce airspace infringements. The recommendations are targeted by groups to those parties that have an impact on airspace infringements (e.g. airspace users, air navigation service providers and aeronautical information and meteorological services). The plan was last updated in March 2022. Traficom encourages aviators and aviation organisations to familiarise themselves with the recommendations and good practices of the EAPAIRR and to implement them in their own operations to the extent practical. The plan can be found on the Eurocontrol website. (External link)
You can learn more about airspace violation data in an interactive report below (in Finnish).
Interactive report
Traficom publishes an interactive report containing further information on airspace infringements in Finnish here (External link). (link opens to Microsoft app.power.com).
