Aviation/airport jobs in Finland

[chaz.taylor]

Hello all,

I will be graduating from university with a degree in Aviation Management next year, and I am just wondering if anyone has some advice on jobs in this field.

I will give you a little background about me first.

I am from the UK, and 24 years old.

I have traveled to Finland a good number of times now, and have completed two short (4 Month) college courses in Rovaniemi/ Tampere, So i am familiar with the culture, climate etc..

I have some friends in Finland, and have been learning the language on and off for a few years now. ( I know the basics, so if I was living there I think I would pick it up)

So, the above brings me to my question about how it is for non-Finnish speakers, to get a job at the airport.. I mean any kind of airside job, like ramp, baggage, dispatch or even a job in the airport itself.

My thinking is I could do it for a year or so, and then hopefully having learned a good amount of Finnish can move on and put my degree to use so to speak....

So , if anybody on here can give me some advice or pointers, or if you know someone who had done similar I would love to hear from you!

Thanks.

[Pursuivant]

Advice is to read the newspapers and see all the articles of people booted out from airports recently and do the maths... They're now all outsourced jobs, they do hire people - you don't have to speak Finnish in baggage handling, but as far as job security goes...

[flyingyellowpig]

Hi there,
I work at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and for you to be able to get a job there , you need to live in Finland for 5 years, have permanent residence permit or Finnish citizenship plus they will have to do some background check on you, which means the police will check your criminal records and etc.

[regalswan]

I would certainly trust someone who actually works at the airport over my limited experience, but I looked into working at the airport previously as a US Citizen and was told I would just need a background check and a residence permit when I called up the airport authority...from my most recent reading you might just need to get a background check from anywhere you've lived within the last five years. I believe I was told I would have to arrange for something to be sent to them from CIA/FBI...they didn't know and I sure didn't know which agency would be responsible...

Might want to contact Finavia directly via phone and ask them: http://www.finavia.fi/about_finavia/recruitment

[flyingyellowpig]

I would certainly trust someone who actually works at the airport over my limited experience, but I looked into working at the airport previously as a US Citizen and was told I would just need a background check and a residence permit when I called up the airport authority...from my most recent reading you might just need to get a background check from anywhere you've lived within the last five years. I believe I was told I would have to arrange for something to be sent to them from CIA/FBI...they didn't know and I sure didn't know which agency would be responsible...

Might want to contact Finavia directly via phone and ask them: http://www.finavia.fi/about_finavia/recruitment

I don't know other parts of the airport but I work for the Tulli Posti, the part of the post which deals with logistics and stuff which comes and goes abroad. There is necessary all the requirements which I stated above.

[Pete]

I've been working at Helsinki-Vantaa airport for almost 8 years now.
I actually can't remember what the requirements were anymore but i think Flyingyellowpig is on the money.
As far as getting a job goes, i reckon that Helsinki-Vantaa is the place to start rather than any of the regional airports.
There are hordes of foreigners at HEL and your chances are significantly better because of the overall amount of work going.
As far as ground handling companies go, there are heaps to choose from, i think there are about 8 or so off the top of my head.
I work for ISS Aviation (previously SAS Ground Services) and am on a pretty good wicket there.
However, we have just had another round of YT-neuvottelut (5th or 6th so far) and as such, the company is not allowed by law to recruit new employees yet.
I think we are going to get sold off some time soon though, so things might change on that front.
There are some really dark clouds looming though, if SAS/Blue1 go bust we are royally screwed.
http://www.fi.issworld.com/palvelumme/t ... ation.aspx
Servisair is another company that i have worked for but i do not recommend going there at all, for reasons that i do not want to go into publicly.
http://www.servisair.com/en-gb/continen ... d/helsinki
Swissport is the biggest employer by far and you might be best off trying to get a gig there.
They have more airlines than anyone else and much more specific roles to be filled by the employees.
My employer doesn't have so many airlines and as a result we have to do a broader variety of roles.
For instance, in Swissport a loadmaster will just be in charge of the loading and tell people what needs to be done. They often don't even have to lift any bags whatsoever.
A redcap will issue the flight crew with the necessary paperwork and deal with any other problems in the cabin.
Then someone else will come and push out the plane when it's ready to leave.
At ISS, us LM's do all of these things as well as the physical work involved in getting planes turned around in time.
http://www.swissport.com/network/networ ... 670f3c3c8a
Inter Handling is another option, however they have only ATR's and Embraers which (in my opinion) are some of the worst plane types to have to deal with on a daily basis.
However, they apparently have some of the best ID ticket benefits to be had here at the moment.
http://www.ih.fi/
Havas Ground Handling is also at HEL, a lot of ex-workmates went there and they seem to be rather happy.
They take care of Air Baltic, Primera, Icelandair and not much else. If you want a good contact there, i know the right person to get in touch with.
http://www.northhubservices.com/services/
Airpro is the last of the possible options, although they seem to have only just enough work for their current employees.
http://www.airpro.fi/avoimet_tyopaikat
The rest of the handling companies are all very small and probably not even worth trying for.
One takes care of Air Åland and another i can't even remember the name of...
Hope this helps!

[Pete]

Then there is DHL, TNT and UPS, all of which have largish operations at Helsinki-Vantaa.
All (except maybe UPS) have their own ground handling staff and could offer English speaking folk some kind of job.

[chaz.taylor]

Thank you to you all for your replies! They have been very useful, and it has given me a lot to go away and think about.

@Pete, I am sending you a PM.

Thanks again guys!

[atina]

Hey ...Did you find finaly anything in the airport? Because I just moved in helsinki ,I was Flight attendant and I am looking for job as ground staff too ,Whatever I can find first !! @Pete was very helpful for me too...thanks!!!