Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Air transport describes air traffic and transport of passengers, freight and mail at Finnish airports. Statistics Finland collects the data for the statistics from airport operators in Finland.
The statistics are produced as required by Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the statistical data required by the Regulation are submitted to Eurostat. The Statistics Act governs the compilation of the statistics.
The data of the statistics concern air transport, that is, commercial air traffic in which passengers, freight or mail are transported for a fee or rent. Commercial air traffic comprises scheduled and chartered flights. Air traffic does not include general aviation, training or military flights.
Three data sets required by the Regulation – A1, B1 and C1 – are provided to Eurostat:
Dataset A1 - Flight Stage dataset : periodic flight stage data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken down by arrivals/departures,
scheduled/non-scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service, airline information and aircraft type. The values provided concern
passengers on board, freight and mail on board, commercial air flights as well as passenger seats available.
Dataset B1 - On Flight Origin/Destination dataset : periodic on flight origin/destination data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken
down by arrivals/departures, scheduled/non scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service and airline information. The values
provided concern passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded.
Dataset C1 - Airport dataset: periodic airport data registered for declaring airports, and broken down by airline information. The values
provided concern total passengers carried, total direct transit passengers, total transfer (indirect transit) passengers (optional variable), total
freight and mail loaded or unloaded, total commercial aircraft movements and total aircraft movement.
3.2. Classification system
EU Regulation (1358/2003) on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air contains the classifications and definitions to be used by the member states in the production of air transport statistics.
Airports are classified according to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) airport coded as listed in ICAO document 7910.
Aircrafts are classified according to aggregated aircraft categories based on the ICAO aircraft codes as listed in ICAO document 8643.
Airlines are classified according to the ICAO airline codes as listed in the ICAO document 8585. When providing the data to Eurostat, the region where they are licensed is coded accordingly either as European Union (EU) or outside the European Union (non-EU).
3.3. Coverage - sector
The data of the statistics concern air transport, that is, commercial air traffic in which passengers, freight or mail are transported for a fee or rent. Commercial air traffic comprises scheduled and chartered flights. Air traffic does not include general aviation and training or military flights.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The statistics on air transport contain data on numbers of passengers in domestic and international scheduled and chartered air traffic, take-offs and landings in domestic and international air traffic, and freight and mail tonnes in domestic and international air traffic.
The main concepts used in this domain are the following:
Community airport - adefined area on land or water in a Member State subject to the provisions of the treaty, which is intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft and open for commercial air services.
Flight stage - the operation of an aircraft from take-off to its next landing. This is linked to the definition of passengers (or freight and mail) on board.
Passengers on board - all passengers on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All revenue and non-revenue passengers on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit passengers (counted at arrivals and departures).
Direct transit passengers - passengers who, after a short stop, continue their journey on the same aircraft on a flight having the same flight number as the flight on which they arrive.
Transfer of indirect transit passengers - passengers arriving and departing on a different aircraft within 24 hours, or on the same aircraft bearing different flight numbers. They are counted twice: once upon arrival and once on departure.
Freight and mail on board - all freight and mail on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All freight and mail on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit freight and mail (counted at arrivals and departures). Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage.
On flight origin and destination - traffic on a commercial air service identified by a unique flight number subdivided by airport pairs in accordance with point of embarkation and point of disembarkation on that flight. For passengers, freight or mail where the airport of embarkation is not known, the aircraft origin should be deemed to be the point of embarkation; similarly, if the airport of disembarkation is not known, the aircraft destination should be deemed to be the point of disembarkation. This is linked to the definition of passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded.
Passengers carried - all passengers on a specific flight (with one flight number) counted once only and not repeatedly on each individual stage of that flight. All revenue and non-revenue passengers whose journey begin or terminates at the reporting airport and transfer passengers joining or leaving the flight at the reporting airport. Excludes direct transit passengers.
Freight and mail loaded or unloaded - all freight and mail loaded onto or unloaded from an aircraft. Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage. Excludes direct transit freight and mail.
Passenger unit - one passenger unit is equivalent to either one passenger or 100 kilograms of freight and mail.
3.5. Statistical unit
The data are collected at individual airport level. The statistical units are passenger and tonne.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population is formed by commercial airports operating in Finland.
Four categories of Community airports are defined by the Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003:
Category "0": Airports with less than 15 000 passenger units per year are considered as having only "occasional commercial traffic" without obligation to report.
Category "1": Airports with between 15 000 and 150 000 passenger units per year shall transmit only aggregated airport data (Data set C).
Category "2": Airports with more than 150 000 passenger units and less than 1 500 000 passenger units per year shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (Data sets A, B and C).
Category "3": Airports with at least 1 500 000 passenger units per year shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (Data sets A, B and C).
Airports under category ‘0’ are not included in the statistics provided to Eurostat.
3.7. Reference area
The data of the statistics cover all commercial aviation in Finland, that is, commercial air traffic in which passengers, freight or mail are transported for a fee or rent.
3.8. Coverage - Time
All data sets have been provided according to the legal act starting from 2001 reference year. Some partial information is available: Passenger carried and passenger on board data are available from 1997. Freight and mail on board and Freight and mail loaded and unloaded data are available from 1997. Transfer passenger data are available from 2015. Direct transit passenger data are available from 1997. Passenger carried and passengers on board data are available from 1997. Freight and mail on board and Freight and mail loaded and unloaded data are available from 1997. Transfer passenger data (monthly) are available from 2015. Direct transit passenger data are available from 1997.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The units used depend on the variables collected within each data set and are: number of passengers, tonnes, flights, aircraft movements and passenger seats available.
The weight of freight and mail is transmitted in tonnes with three decimal places.
Reference period is the calendar year 2023.
Data is collected on a monthly basis for the purpose of data sets A1 and B1 and C1.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
European level: until 2002, the data were provided to Eurostat on a voluntary basis; since 2002 data provision is based on an EP and Council framework legal act and on several implementing Commission Regulations:
Data on the statistics on air transport are available on the publication date of the release on the home page of the statistics. The data of the statistics are also available in Statistics Finland's StatFin database service. The statistics are produced as required by Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the statistical data required by the Regulation are submitted to Eurostat.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
National level:
The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is absolutely guaranteed in accordance with the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Personal Data Act (532/1999) and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), as well as the requirements of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Wilful breaching of data protection is punishable.
European level:
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
The data provided to Eurostat in the data sets A1, B1 and C1 contain no confidential information.
Only the airline information data is subject to confidentiality. Before providing the data to Eurostat, the region where they are licensed is coded accordingly either as European Union (EU) or outside the European Union (non-EU).
The data provided to Eurostat in the data sets A1, B1 and C1 contain no confidential information.
8.1. Release calendar
Monthly and yearly release according to dates set in the release calendar of Statistics Finland, which is publicly accessible on its web page. The release calendar lists in advance all the statistical data and publications to be released over the year. The calendar is updated on weekdays.
Data on the statistics on air transport are available to all simultaneously on the publication date of the release on the home page of the statistics. The data of the statistics are also available in Statistics Finland's StatFin database service.
The monthly statistics on air transport are published around four weeks from the end of the statistical reference month. The annual statistics on air transport are published at the end of March following the statistical reference year and they contain the final annual data concerning the previous year.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Annual data and the latest monthly data on the statistics on air transport are available to all simultaneously on the publication date of the release on the home page of the statistics. The data of the statistics are also available in Statistics Finland's StatFin database service.
The monthly statistics on air transport are published around four weeks from the end of the statistical reference month. The annual statistics on air transport are published at the end of March following the statistical reference year and they contain the final annual data concerning the previous year.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Air traffic statistics's regular series of publications released monthly at Statistics (Ilma)
The statistical data released before 2022 can be found on the archive pages of the statistics: (Statistics Ilma tie).
Air traffic datatables in px-format are published in Statistics database Statfin: (Statistics Stat Fin).
Air transport describes air traffic and transport of passengers, freight and mail at Finnish airports. Statistics Finland collects the data for the statistics from airport operators in Finland.
The statistics are produced as required by Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the statistical data required by the Regulation are submitted to Eurostat. The Statistics Act governs the compilation of the statistics.
The data of the statistics concern air transport, that is, commercial air traffic in which passengers, freight or mail are transported for a fee or rent. Commercial air traffic comprises scheduled and chartered flights. Air traffic does not include general aviation, training or military flights.
When compiling statistics, Statistics Finland observes the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP) and the Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) based on them. The Code of Practice concerns the independence and accountability of statistical authorities and the quality of processes and data to be published. The principles are in line with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics approved by the United Nations Statistics Division and are supplementary to them. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are also compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The principles are also compatible with those of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).
Every year Statistics Finland conducts statistical auditing that helps to ensure the quality of statistics.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Not applicable.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Data of commercial aircraft movements, the routes, numbers of passengers, amount of transported freight and mail as well as seats available provides an important basis for decision-making of politics, society and economy in the context of the development and promotion of transport projects.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not applicable.
12.3. Completeness
The data collection on air transport statistics follows the provisions of the Regulation 437/2003.
Datasets A1 and B1- possibility to identify the true first origin/ final destination of a passenger: According to base on ticket information is not possible to identify the true first origin/final destination of a passenger.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy of the air transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibilty checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable for air transport data collection.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The correctness of the data is of great importance for the airports, since the data serves as basis for billing.
14.1. Timeliness
The monthly statistics on air transport are published around four weeks from the end of the statistical reference month.
The annual statistics on air transport are published at the end of March following the statistical reference year and they contain the final annual data concerning the previous year.
Finland respects Eurostat's requirements for timeliness.
14.2. Punctuality
All the statistics required by the provisions of the Regulation 437/2003 are available before the deadline for the data provisions set up in the legal act.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There are no problems of comparability for air transport data collection with a very high data comparability across contries due to the common legal basis. Comparisons of the data regarding passengers and freight/mail declared by partner reporting airports (so-called mirror checks) by Eurostat allow further the detection of possible inconsistencies which can be corrected if possible.
The data are comparable on the level of the whole country.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The statistics on air transport are comparable over time, as they are collected following fully the provisions of the legal act - the Regulation 437/2003. Time series checks are regularly made to detect inconsistencies in the data.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The statistics on air transport are regularly made accounts of the passenger and freight volumes of airports operating in Finland. Airport operators may publish corresponding statistics describing their airports. Statistics Finland monitors that these statistics are coherent with data reported to Statistics Finland.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal coherence is good as only final data and results are released.
If published data have to be altered, this is always indicated to the user for the data in question in the release and database tables.
The response burden is on the airports and the data is provided for free.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Revision may be required if for example some information on a flight was received too late or corrections is needed. Mostly those revisions only concern a small amount of data and do not change the overall results.
Finland provides Eurostat with updated, final data sets A1, B1 and C1 yearly for the latest full statistical year after the the yearly statistics are published.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See 17.1
18.1. Source data
Dataset A1 – Data Suppliers (Passengers on board/Freight and mail on board):
Passenger on board : Passenger data received in real time
Freight and mail on board : Airlines or their handling agents
Aircraft Information in A1: Finavias air traffic database. (ICAO doc 8643)
Seats information information in A1: Data reported by airlines per registration if before mentioned is not available then use average aircraft capacities.
Dataset B1 –Data Suppliers (Passengers carried/Freight and mail loaded/unloaded): Airlines or their handling agents
Datasets A1 and B1 - Use of Air Waybill Data as information source of freight data: Waybills not available
Dataset C1 – Bodies that supply the direct transit information to the CNA: Data are collected at individual flight level from carriers. Can also be derived from OFOD.
Dataset C1 – Bodies that supply the commercial and total aircraft movement to the CNA: Flight records come from ANS systems on daily basis electronically.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Information needed for the data sets A1, B1 and C1 are collected on monthly basis from all reporting airports.
18.3. Data collection
The data are collected monthly (monthly statistics) and annually (annual statistics).
The delivery of the datasets is based on agreements. The files are transferred mainly as line transfer to Statistics Finland through the data reception service (AVa).
Below is a more spesific description on how Finavia collects and compiles the data that is delivered to Statistics Finland:
Dataset A1 – Data supplier’s information sources (Passengers on board/ Freight and mail on board):
Passenger on board : IATA Type B messages (LDM, MVT and PTM)
Freight and mail on board : Daily files from some airlines electronically, two weeks file electronically from some airlines and paper versions from some handling agents.
Dataset A1 – Data transmission to CNA – level of aggregation, system and periodicity (Passengers on board/ Freight and mail on board):
Passenger on board : Individual flight level
Freight and mail on board : Daily files from some airlines electronically, two weeks file electronically from some airlines and paper versions from some handling agents. Data is collected at individual flight level.
Dataset B1 – Data supplier’s information sources (Passengers carried/ Freight and mail loaded/unloaded): Daily files from some airlines electronically, two weeks file electronically from some airlines and paper versions from some handling agents.
Dataset B1 – Data transmission to CNA – level of aggregation, system and periodicity (Passengers carried/ Freight and mail loaded/unloaded): Daily files from some airlines electronically, two weeks file electronically from some airlines and paper versions from some handling agents. Data is collected at individual flight level.
Datasets A1 and B1 - OFOD data derived from FS data or collected separately by the data supplier: OFOD data are derived from FS data.
Implementation of the data collection and compilation process: This has needed a lot of programming and extending processes.
18.4. Data validation
Experts evaluate the data before their publication and compare the results with the previous year’s data.
18.5. Data compilation
The data are processed to correspond to the classifications used in the statistics.
After various plausibility checks, the data received from the airports are compiled into monthly data following the structure of the data sets which are preset by regulation (EC) 1358/2003.
Data codification practices: No problems.
Problems on data compilation, validation and delivery: Receiving freight data from certain carriers.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable for air transport data collection.
Not applicable.
Air transport describes air traffic and transport of passengers, freight and mail at Finnish airports. Statistics Finland collects the data for the statistics from airport operators in Finland.
The statistics are produced as required by Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the statistical data required by the Regulation are submitted to Eurostat. The Statistics Act governs the compilation of the statistics.
The data of the statistics concern air transport, that is, commercial air traffic in which passengers, freight or mail are transported for a fee or rent. Commercial air traffic comprises scheduled and chartered flights. Air traffic does not include general aviation, training or military flights.
Three data sets required by the Regulation – A1, B1 and C1 – are provided to Eurostat:
Dataset A1 - Flight Stage dataset : periodic flight stage data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken down by arrivals/departures,
scheduled/non-scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service, airline information and aircraft type. The values provided concern
passengers on board, freight and mail on board, commercial air flights as well as passenger seats available.
Dataset B1 - On Flight Origin/Destination dataset : periodic on flight origin/destination data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken
down by arrivals/departures, scheduled/non scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service and airline information. The values
provided concern passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded.
Dataset C1 - Airport dataset: periodic airport data registered for declaring airports, and broken down by airline information. The values
provided concern total passengers carried, total direct transit passengers, total transfer (indirect transit) passengers (optional variable), total
freight and mail loaded or unloaded, total commercial aircraft movements and total aircraft movement.
19 December 2024
The statistics on air transport contain data on numbers of passengers in domestic and international scheduled and chartered air traffic, take-offs and landings in domestic and international air traffic, and freight and mail tonnes in domestic and international air traffic.
The main concepts used in this domain are the following:
Community airport - adefined area on land or water in a Member State subject to the provisions of the treaty, which is intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft and open for commercial air services.
Flight stage - the operation of an aircraft from take-off to its next landing. This is linked to the definition of passengers (or freight and mail) on board.
Passengers on board - all passengers on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All revenue and non-revenue passengers on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit passengers (counted at arrivals and departures).
Direct transit passengers - passengers who, after a short stop, continue their journey on the same aircraft on a flight having the same flight number as the flight on which they arrive.
Transfer of indirect transit passengers - passengers arriving and departing on a different aircraft within 24 hours, or on the same aircraft bearing different flight numbers. They are counted twice: once upon arrival and once on departure.
Freight and mail on board - all freight and mail on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All freight and mail on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit freight and mail (counted at arrivals and departures). Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage.
On flight origin and destination - traffic on a commercial air service identified by a unique flight number subdivided by airport pairs in accordance with point of embarkation and point of disembarkation on that flight. For passengers, freight or mail where the airport of embarkation is not known, the aircraft origin should be deemed to be the point of embarkation; similarly, if the airport of disembarkation is not known, the aircraft destination should be deemed to be the point of disembarkation. This is linked to the definition of passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded.
Passengers carried - all passengers on a specific flight (with one flight number) counted once only and not repeatedly on each individual stage of that flight. All revenue and non-revenue passengers whose journey begin or terminates at the reporting airport and transfer passengers joining or leaving the flight at the reporting airport. Excludes direct transit passengers.
Freight and mail loaded or unloaded - all freight and mail loaded onto or unloaded from an aircraft. Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage. Excludes direct transit freight and mail.
Passenger unit - one passenger unit is equivalent to either one passenger or 100 kilograms of freight and mail.
The data are collected at individual airport level. The statistical units are passenger and tonne.
The statistical population is formed by commercial airports operating in Finland.
Four categories of Community airports are defined by the Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003:
Category "0": Airports with less than 15 000 passenger units per year are considered as having only "occasional commercial traffic" without obligation to report.
Category "1": Airports with between 15 000 and 150 000 passenger units per year shall transmit only aggregated airport data (Data set C).
Category "2": Airports with more than 150 000 passenger units and less than 1 500 000 passenger units per year shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (Data sets A, B and C).
Category "3": Airports with at least 1 500 000 passenger units per year shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (Data sets A, B and C).
Airports under category ‘0’ are not included in the statistics provided to Eurostat.
The data of the statistics cover all commercial aviation in Finland, that is, commercial air traffic in which passengers, freight or mail are transported for a fee or rent.
Reference period is the calendar year 2023.
Data is collected on a monthly basis for the purpose of data sets A1 and B1 and C1.
Overall accuracy of the air transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibilty checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.
The units used depend on the variables collected within each data set and are: number of passengers, tonnes, flights, aircraft movements and passenger seats available.
The weight of freight and mail is transmitted in tonnes with three decimal places.
The data are processed to correspond to the classifications used in the statistics.
After various plausibility checks, the data received from the airports are compiled into monthly data following the structure of the data sets which are preset by regulation (EC) 1358/2003.
Data codification practices: No problems.
Problems on data compilation, validation and delivery: Receiving freight data from certain carriers.
Dataset A1 – Data Suppliers (Passengers on board/Freight and mail on board):
Passenger on board : Passenger data received in real time
Freight and mail on board : Airlines or their handling agents
Aircraft Information in A1: Finavias air traffic database. (ICAO doc 8643)
Seats information information in A1: Data reported by airlines per registration if before mentioned is not available then use average aircraft capacities.
Dataset B1 –Data Suppliers (Passengers carried/Freight and mail loaded/unloaded): Airlines or their handling agents
Datasets A1 and B1 - Use of Air Waybill Data as information source of freight data: Waybills not available
Dataset C1 – Bodies that supply the direct transit information to the CNA: Data are collected at individual flight level from carriers. Can also be derived from OFOD.
Dataset C1 – Bodies that supply the commercial and total aircraft movement to the CNA: Flight records come from ANS systems on daily basis electronically.
The monthly statistics on air transport are published around four weeks from the end of the statistical reference month. The annual statistics on air transport are published at the end of March following the statistical reference year and they contain the final annual data concerning the previous year.
The monthly statistics on air transport are published around four weeks from the end of the statistical reference month.
The annual statistics on air transport are published at the end of March following the statistical reference year and they contain the final annual data concerning the previous year.
Finland respects Eurostat's requirements for timeliness.
There are no problems of comparability for air transport data collection with a very high data comparability across contries due to the common legal basis. Comparisons of the data regarding passengers and freight/mail declared by partner reporting airports (so-called mirror checks) by Eurostat allow further the detection of possible inconsistencies which can be corrected if possible.
The data are comparable on the level of the whole country.
The statistics on air transport are comparable over time, as they are collected following fully the provisions of the legal act - the Regulation 437/2003. Time series checks are regularly made to detect inconsistencies in the data.
