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Tampere-Pirkkala Airport (IATA: TMP, ICAO: EFTP), located in Pirkkala, 7 NM (13 km; 8.1 mi) south-west[1] from the city of Tampere, is the third busiest airport and the second busiest international airport in Finland. Tampere-Pirkkala is also one of Finland's fastest growing airports, having increased its annual passenger numbers from 256,380 in 2000 to 632,010 in 2006. Most of this growth can be attributed to Ryanair's low cost flights to and from a number of destinations in Central and Western Europe.

The airport is also home to the Satakunta Air Command base of the Finnish Air Force, with F-18 Hornets stationed there.

Tampere Airport was founded in 1936 in Härmälä (a district in Tampere) located some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the centre of Tampere. At that time Härmälä airport was connected to Helsinki, Vaasa, Oulu and Kemi by Aero O/Y (now Finnair). The first terminal building was built in 1941.

Veljekset Karhumäki (an airline, in English "Karhumäki Brothers", later known as Karhumäki Airways and Kar-Air) began to fly to Stockholm in the 1950s. The runway wasn't paved until 1958. Between 1936 and 1979 Härmälä airport served 1.5 million passengers. In 1979 Härmälä airport was closed and the new airport opened in Pirkkala.