Daily Helsingin Sanomat reports that people in Finland are flying more than ever, while occupants of neighbouring countries are increasingly choosing to avoid air travel because of its destructive carbon footprint. Calculations have shown that flying accounts for about 2-3 percent of a person's carbon emissions on average.
"I am aware of the emissions, but I can't say they have had any impact on my travel plans. Once my holiday finally arrives, I want to get away from it all," Suvi Vekki, a passenger at Helsinki Airport, told the paper.
Finnish airport operator Finavia announced in 2018 that air travel had grown by 11.9 percent on the previous year, and so far this year the trend has continued, with 4.3 percent growth on the year prior.
In comparison, ticket sales at Swedish airports grew by under a percentage point last year – a clear and sudden slowdown on previous years. Swedish airport operator Swedavia tells the paper that the drop can be attributed to a new air travel tax and the ongoing climate change discussion. The Swedes have even created a new word to explain their feelings on the subject: "flygskam" or flight shame, HS writes.
A poll conducted by HS last year found that over half of Finnish residents would approve of a sin tax on flying for environmental reasons. Few of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to cut back on their air travel, however.
Trouble in Vuosaari
HS also reports this Thursday on unrest in the eastern Vuosaari district of Helsinki. In the past week, a group with members as young as 10 years old reportedly acted aggressively by threatening passersby, climbing onto strangers' balconies and leaving shopping trolleys and broken glass on walkways and streets.
Eastern Helsinki's youth services director Katri Kairimo says foot patrols of youth outreach workers have been dispatched to the area in force this summer. She tells the paper that the kids often know the youth counsellors in the patrols, and feel comfortable talking to them.
"The young people tend to mind our youth service representatives. It is all down to years of work in this area," she tells the paper.
The local Kallahti Youth House in Vuosaari has been closed until the start of the school year, and the paper speculates that this may be one reason more underage locals have congregated at the Aurinkolahti swimming area and spent their idle days hanging out at the Columbus shopping centre.
The paper visited the area to interview locals, and most seemed confident that the unrest would settle down once the school year started up again, in little over a week.
Where's my money?
The tabloid Iltalehti contains a short article about recent tax refund confusion. Apparently, several taxpayers have been calling the taxman to complain that they haven't received their refund, or that it was a different amount than they expected.
The tax administration's senior inspector Tarja Tapio explains that the returns have been scheduled in intervals.
"The refund date could have been moved without the customer noticing. Or if people are receiving different amounts from what they imagined, it is often because some of the returned money was used to pay advance taxes, for example," she says.
She clarifies that about 800 million euros will be returned to 1.7 million taxpayers on 6 August; while a further 1.3 billion euros will be returned to another 1.3 million taxpayers in September.
New chief of defence
And the newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reports that Timo Kivinen begins his first day as Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces today.
Kivinen was sworn in to the position on Tuesday at the Finnish President's Kesäranta summer residence in Naantali, where he was also promoted to the rank of General. A change of command ceremony took place at Helsinki's Santahamina base yesterday afternoon, featuring a review of troops from the Defence Command, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the National Defence University. The Air Force honoured the event with a flypast.
Kivinen follows General Jarmo Lindberg, who served as the Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces for the last five years. Lindberg will now officially retire and transfer into the reserves, ESS writes.
The Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces is the country's chief of defence. In terms of the military chain of command, he is directly subordinate to the President of the Republic.