'Finnair' is
Finland's largest
airline and the
flag carrier. Its headquarters are located in
Vantaa, Finland, with its main hub at
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Finnair and its
subsidiary companies dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. Finnair is a member of the
Oneworld alliance. In 2006, the airline transported 8.8 million passengers, on a network of 15 domestic and 55 international destinations. In addition there are about 50 seasonal charter-flight destinations.
The airline has not had a fatal accident since 1963, nor has any severe damage to its aircraft occurred since then, ranking it the second-safest airline of all time (behind
Australia's
Qantas).
[1]
History
Finnair was founded as 'Aero O/Y' (''Aero Ltd'') by consul Bruno Lucander in
1923. Lucander had previously run the Finnish operations of the Estonian airline Aeronaut. In mid-1923 he concluded an agreement with
Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG to provide aircraft and technical support in exchange for a 50% ownership in the new airline. The charter establishing the company was signed in
Helsinki on
September 12,
1923 and the company was entered into the trade register on
December 11,
1923. The first flight was flown on
March 20,
1924 from Helsinki to
Tallinn,
Estonia with
Junkers F.13 aircraft equipped with floats. The last
seaplane service was operated in December 1936 following the construction of the first
aerodromes in Finland.
Air raids on
Helsinki and other Finnish cities made
World War II a difficult period for the airline. The company saw half of its fleet requisitioned by the
Finnish Air Force during that time, and it is estimated that during the
Winter War of 1939 and 1940 half of the airline's passengers were children for evacuation to
Sweden.
In 1946 the Finnish government acquired a majority stake in the company and re-established services to
Europe on
November 1,
1947. In
1953, the name Finnair was adopted as the airline's name. In
1961, Finnair joined the jet age by adding RR Avon-engined
Caravelles to its fleet. These were later exchanged with the manufacturer for PW-engined Super Caravelles. In 1962 Finnair acquired a 27% controlling interest in a private Finnish airline, Kar-Air. Finnair Oy became the company's official name on
June 25,
1968. In
1969, it took possession of its first
U.S. made jet, a
Douglas DC-8. The first transatlantic service to
New York was inaugurated on
May 15,
1969.
In
1975, Finnair received its first
wide-bodied aircraft when the
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 entered service. In 1979 it established a subsidiary company Finnaviation for domestic operations, with a 60% stake. In
1983, Finnair became the first operator to fly non-stop from
Western Europe to
Japan when Helsinki-
Tokyo flights with one
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER aircraft were started. In
1988, Finnair launched a Helsinki-
Beijing route, making Finnair the first Western European carrier to fly non-stop between Europe and
China.
In 1987 Finnair became the launch customer for the
McDonnell Douglas MD-11, the first of which was delivered on
December 7, 1990. The first revenue service with the MD-11 took place on December 20, 1990, with OH-LGA operating a flight from Helsinki to
Tenerife in the
Canary Islands.
Both Kar-Air and Finnaviation became wholly owned by Finnair and were integrated into the mainline operations in 1997. On September 25,
1997 Finnair Oyj (Finnair Plc) became the company's official name. In
1999, Finnair joined the
Oneworld alliance. In
2001, Finnair recycled the Aero name again and established
Aero Airlines, an airline based in
Tallinn,
Estonia. In 2003 Finnair acquired ownership of the Swedish
low-cost airline,
Flynordic, which operates mainly within Scandinavia.
The State of Finland is the controlling shareholder (57.04%)
[2], and Icelandic investment funds have a sizeable portion of the rest. Finnair's stock is listed on the
Helsinki Stock Exchange. The airline employed 8,711 staff (at January 2005) and 9,447 staff (at March
2007)
. Finnair is the fifth oldest airline in the world with uninterrupted existence.
Destinations
''see full article:'' ''
Finnair destinations''.
From its Helsinki-Vantaa base Finnair flies to
Asia and
North America, and is now extending its European operations along with the introduction of Embraer jets. The domestic operations are partly carried out in cooperation with the Estonia-based subsidiary Aero and Finncomm Airlines, operating an ATR and an ATR/Embraer fleet, respectively.
Fleet
Current fleet
The Finnair fleet consists of the following aircraft (at July
2007)
:
The average Finnair fleet age is 5.6 years at June 2007
[3].
★ On
June 30,
2004 Finnair announced an order for twelve 76-seat
Embraer 170 aircraft plus 8 options.
[4] On
December 2,
2005 Finnair switched the last two E170 orders and 4 of its options to
Embraer 190 orders. Both sets of aircraft will be delivered between September 2005 and December
2007.
[5][6]
★ On December 7, 2005 Finnair announced an order for three
Airbus A340-300E to be delivered from 2007 and nine
Airbus A350-900s plus four options to be delivered from 2011. The A350s will replace the
MD-11s, which will be retired by 2012. On March 8, 2007, Finnair confirmed the order with the Airbus A350 XWB, and increased it to a total of nine firm orders and four options, for delivery starting in 2014.
[7][8]
★ Finnair received one A340-311 aircraft from
Virgin Atlantic on
June 12,
2006 which will operate on the
Shanghai route from July 1. It will initially fly a few domestic routes for crew training purposes. The first such flight was made on June 19, 2006 from Helsinki-Vantaa to Kuopio.
Previously operated
★
Junkers F.13 (1924-1935)
★
Junkers G.24 (1926-1935)
★
Junkers Ju 52/3m (1932-1949)
★
de Havilland Dragon Rapide (1937-1947)
★
Douglas DC-2 (1941-1948)
★
Douglas DC-3 (1947-1967)
★
Convair CV-440 Metropolitan (1953-1980)
★
Sud Aviation Caravelle 1A (1960-1964)
★
Sud Aviation Caravelle 10B (Super Caravelle) (1964-1983)
★
Douglas DC-8-62CF (1969-1981)
★
Douglas DC-8-62 (1975-1986)
★
Douglas DC-9-10,
DC-9-40,
DC-9-50 (1971-2003)
★
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30/ER (1981-1996)
★
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30(1975-1996)
★
Fokker F-27 (1980-1987)
★
McDonnell Douglas MD-82,
MD-83,
MD-87 (1983-2006)
★
ATR-42 (1986-1990)
★
Airbus A300B4 (1986-2004) Lastly leased to Air Scandic of Jersey (now defunct).
★
ATR-72 (1989-2004)
★
Saab 340 (?? - 1998)
Services
Finnair Plus
Finnair Plus is Finnair's frequent flyer programme. Passengers are awarded points based on the type and class of flight flown. Once enough miles are banked into the passengers account, a membership tier (Basic, Silver, Gold or Platinum) is awarded. There is a Junior tier exclusively for minors. Silver, Gold, and Platinum members have privileges such as premium check-in desks and priority boarding.
Finnair offers frequent flyer partnerships with the following airlines:
Finnair lounges
Finnair operates lounges at two airports:
★
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
★
Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
Remaining international destinations are served with contract lounges.
Blue Wings
Cover of Blue Wings. May 2006 edition.
Finnair's inflight magazine, 'Blue Wings', is published ten times per year by Finnish media company
SanomaWSOY. There are
English and
Finnish articles in the magazine. The first edition of Blue Wings magazine was published in
1980. The magazine 'Lento' is also published and presents in flight information, such as the onboard shop and route information. There are domestic and international
newspapers on all flights, and magazines on long-haul flights in the business class.
Codeshare agreements
Finnair has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
Incidents and accidents
★ On
15 November 1927 a Aero O/Y Junkers F.13 disappeared en route from Tallinn to Helsinki. The aircraft was carrying two Finnish generals and the pilot. The pilot was a former communist pilot. It has been speculated that the pilot defected to the Soviet Union.
★ In 1937, an Aero O/Y Junkers Ju 52 lost its nose engine during a flight from Turku to Stockholm. The pilots managed to land safely with two remaining engines, although they were showered with engine oil.
★ On
14 June 1940 -
Kaleva Shootdown, an Aero
Junkers Ju52-3/mge aircraft flying from Tallinn to Helsinki was shot down by two
Soviet bombers over the
Gulf of Finland.
[9] There is strong evidence the plane was carrying secret documents away from Tallinn.
★ On
3 January 1961 -
Aero Flight 311, a
DC-3 that was being flown by alcohol-intoxicated and sleep-deprived pilots crashed in
Kvevlax, Finland (''Koivulahti'' in
Finnish), with a loss of all 25 on board.
[10] The accident remains the worst in Finnish aviation history.
★ On
8 November 1963, a
DC-3 crash that was attributed to a malfunctioning altimeter occurred on approach to
Mariehamn,
Åland Islands in a poor visibility, with a loss of 22 passengers and crew.
[11]
References
1. Finnair's safety record
2. Directory: World Airlines
3. Finnair Fleet Age June 2007
4. Finnair Press Release 30 June 2004
5. Finnair Press Release 02 December 2005
6. Embraer conversion of options to orders 02 December 2005
7. Finnair Press Release 07 December 2005
8. Press Release08 March 2007
9. 1940 Ju 52 crash
10. 1961 DC-3 crash
11. 1963 DC-3 crash
External links
★
Official website
★
Fleet
★
History of Oy Aero Ab
★
Photos
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