Finnair Captain: GPS spoofing and jamming are a daily nuisance
The ATR-72 aircraft attempted to land twice. The second attempt was successful, whereas the first was disrupted.
A Finnair aircraft experienced some difficulty landing in Kirkenes on Monday, 6 April. Finnair has confirmed that this was due to GPS spoofing.
The aircraft attempted to land twice. The second attempt was successful, whereas the first was disrupted.
“There are two types of GPS interference,” explains Aleksi Kuosmanen, Chief Flight Instructor and Captain at Finnair, who has over 20 years’ experience flying Finnair’s Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft. “The signal can be disrupted, which is known as jamming, or it can be falsified. In that case, the location data are incorrect, and we refer to it as spoofing.”
“Nowadays, GPS interference is a daily nuisance that we take into account in all our planning,” says Kuosmanen. “It is somewhat inconvenient, but it does not worry pilots. You can switch off the entire GPS system if necessary.”
Aircraft are equipped with systems that detect erroneous GPS signals. These include inertial navigation gyro systems, electronic maps with regularly updated disruption data, and traditional ground-based navigation systems for landing. Every flight also has an alternate airport available in case plans need to change.
“We only operate when it is safe,” says Päivyt Tallqvist, Head of Communications at Finnair. "Also the air traffic control looks after safety. If the airspace is closed, we do not fly.”
Spoofing, jamming and other disruptions to aviation near the Russian border have increased significantly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kirkenes Airport at Høybuktmoen lies just 10 kilometres from the Russian border and about 50 kilometres from the military stronghold in the Pechenga Valley. From there, the 71st Motorised Division of the Leningrad Military District and the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade regularly emit electronic warfare signals directed towards Norway.
In the far north, along the borders between Norway, Finland and Russia, GPS jamming maps show extensive disruption. The same applies to Helsinki and the area around Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea.
“There is interference almost every time you depart from Helsinki,” says Kuosmanen.
Kirkenes Airport is equipped with ground-based navigation systems using radio signals, which are utilised by SAS and Norwegian.
Finnair’s commitment to Norway
Due to the geopolitical situation, flight routes are constantly evolving and have become longer.
Finnair has traditionally relied on routes to Asia. As it no longer uses Russian airspace, its northern routes to Japan now pass over northern Norway and the North Pole.
Finnair has recently launched several new routes to Norway. Kirkenes has only just opened, while Alta and Stavanger are entirely new destinations. The airline is targeting tourists travelling to locations that are difficult to reach by car.
“Norway is a popular destination both for our Finnish customers and for those arriving from the United States and Asia. Our Norwegian customers travel both to Finland and onward through our network to Europe and Asia,” says Tallqvist.
In total, Finnair operates 97 weekly flights to eight destinations in Norway. In the north, Kirkenes, Alta, Bodø and Tromsø are among the locations many tourists are keen to visit.
Finnair is navigating a challenging geopolitical landscape. Russian airspace remains closed, making the once-direct routes to Asia a thing of the past. Operations in the Middle East, including flights to Dubai and Doha, have also been suspended. Fuel prices continue to rise. Finnair has not disclosed how much revenue it has lost due to cancelled flights to the UAE and Qatar, nor how much it expects to gain from its new Norwegian routes.
“We will comment on our financial performance when we publish our quarterly report on 22 April,” says Tallqvist.
Recently, Finnair announced an investment in 18 new Embraer aircraft worth approximately one billion euros — a significant commitment, given that the company’s total market value is estimated at around €600 million.
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This article is published as part of an exchange program financed by Svenska Kulturfonden in Finland.
