Friends of Malmi Airport celebrate 70th birthday of Helsinki’s first airport in bittersweet atmosphere

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Helsinki’s Malmi Airport celebrated its 70th birthday in a nostalgic but also bittersweet atmosphere on Thursday.
      The mood during the coffee and cakes was devout with a hint of apprehensive anticipation of what might happen next.
      The question of whether or not to move the airport’s activities somewhere else remains unresolved.
      Helsinki has designs on the prime building land the urban airport represents.
      “A quiet stalemate situation continues”, says Finavia Director General Samuli Haapasalo.
     
The audience, which primarily consisted of men, included friends of the airport, aviation veterans, and workers of the companies operating at the Malmi Airport.
      Many of them seemed lost in their thoughts and reveries. Presumably they had experienced the ecstasy of their first flight right here at Malmi.
      On the balcony, Matti Korjus had his camera ready while waiting for the start of the airshow. The first photographs of airplanes Korjus took as a schoolboy right after the war.
      Later he acquired a small plane of his own, but has since given it up as its maintenance proved a bit too pricy.
      “My grandson has just received his pilot’s licence. So now we have aviators in three generations in the family”, Korjus boasts.
     
Among the guests was also a gentleman in a dark blue uniform with KarAir and aviation veterans' badges attached to it.
      “I brought it out in the morning and tested it”, flight mechanic Pauli Fallström says, and he points across at the 65-year-old DC-3 airplane that he has taxied in front of the terminal to honour the occasion.
      Fallström is the airplane veteran’s main mechanic.
      The plane is flown by former KarAir and Finnair pilots and the passengers consist of the members of the DC Association. The association has more than 3,400 members.
      “It is like new. All the parts have been changed”, Fallström says proudly.
     
OH-LCH or "Hotel" , Finland's only airworthy DC-3, was built in Santa Monica, California in 1942, and still flies short distances around once a week.
      It was formerly owned and flown by Aero Oy, the predecessor of Finnair. The carrier only took on its present name in 1968, but it dates back to 1923, making it one of the world's oldest airlines still flying.
      A total of 10 DC-3s were operated by Aero Oy, which flew out of Helsinki-Malmi from the late 1930s until Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport was opened in time for the Summer Olympics of 1952.
     
     
Note: The first flight in and out of Helsinki-Malmi took place in December 1936, but the airport was officially opened on May 15th, 1938. The length of the runways (1340m and 1024m) renders it quite unsuitable for modern jets, but under exceptional circumstances Helsinki-Malmi remains a back-up airfield for Helsinki-Vantaa for smaller aircraft. It is also an important location for pilot training and aviation clubs.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Proposal for new airport in Porvoo to replace Malmi facility (17.8.2007)
  Court finds Helsinki Mayor had conflict of interest on Malmi Airport plan (8.11.2006)
  Helsinki to evict planes from Malmi Airport (9.12.2004)

See also:
  Helsinki Malmi Airport included in World Monuments Watch preservation list (25.9.2003)

Links:
  Finavia: Helsinki-Malmi Airport
  Friends of Malmi Airport press release Aug 16, 2007: Malmi Airport could remain in its present shape
  Helsinki-Malmi Airport (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat