Finnair's announcement that it will start weighing passengers and their hand luggage this spring at Helsinki Airport is generating interest in Finland as well as abroad.
The national airline seems to want to reassure passengers they have nothing to worry about. It said the exercise is voluntary while the information they collect gets anonymised.
The data is used for aircraft balance calculations, according to the Finnish flag carrier.
"Only the customer service agent working at the measuring point can see the total weight, so you can participate in the study with peace of mind," Finnair's Satu Munnukka said in a statement.
More evictions
Finland is seeing an increase in evictions, reports Iltalehti.
Last year the National Enforcement Authority recorded 4,900 evictions, which constitutes a nearly 13 percent rise over 2022.
The figures indicate that eviction filings have swelled by 1,300 since the year 2020, when the number of tenants forced out of properties was the same as almost a decade earlier.
Failure to pay rent was by far the most common cause of eviction. No specific demographic stands out among those evicted, which includes both the young and old, families as well as individuals living alone.
Finland has set itself a goal of eradicating homelessness by 2027.
Wood burning
Concerns about electricity prices are piquing people's interest in wood burning.
"Nearly all of our dry wood has been sold. This winter's cold spell increased demand that was already significant. We have sold more wood than ever before—several thousand cubic meters," Tauno Ilomäki of Ilomäen Puukauppa in Pirkanmaa told Maaseudun Tulevaisuus.
Firewood demand has increased significantly since Russia invaded Ukraine, but Ilomäki said he had expected interest to start tapering off.
"Things turned out differently though, and demand has continued to be strong," he noted.
Wood for industrial needs is no longer imported from Russia. According to the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), in 2021, 74 percent of the raw wood imported to Finland came from Russia. Ninety percent of this was wood chips and birch fibre wood, which is also used as firewood.
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