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'Finncomm Airlines' (short for 'Finnish Commuter Airlines Oy'), is a regional airline based in Seinäjoki, Finland. The headquarters is located at Seinäjoki Airport but a main base and hub at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.^[1] From Helsinki they fly to Estonia, Germany and 15 different destinations in Finland.

Contents

History

Destinations

Domestic

Germany

Estonia

Fleet

External links

References

History

The airline started operations in 1993. Co-operation with Finnair began in 1998 when Finncomm started to provide Swedish airline Golden Air with staff, flight planning, operations control and marketing functions in Finland. It has over 200 employees (as of March 2007).
The airline carried over 400,000 passengers in 2006 and expects to carry over 600,000 in 2007. In 2006 the airline had more than 80 daily departures from Helsinki-Vantaa airport making it the second largest airline operating from there in terms of daily departures after Finnair.
Finncomm is co-operating with Finnair providing feeder traffic for their route network. They also offer a good point-to-point network on domestic flights as they fly to 15 destinations in Finland. Finncomm has inaugurated so called low-cost concept which means very competitive ticket prices if compared for trains and buses or other airlines. Despite quite low ticket prices, the airline is still considered as a full service airline. Even on domestic flights soft drinks, chocolate and/or a sandwich is offered as a free of charge, depending a duration of the flight. On Stuttgart route a complimentary meal is served with drinks. Their fleet is rather young as brand new ATR's are introduced with 6 of those already operating and 6 more will be delivered. All Embraer-145s and ATRs does have leather seats.
Finncomm is also a member airline of European Regions Airline Association. Finncomm Airlines has been profitable at every single year since it was established in 1993 which is quite an achievement if considering rather turbulent past years in aviation market. Today they have one of the best on-time records in Europe according to ERA statistics.
Due to a one incident in late 2006, the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority ordered some changes for the Finncomm's operating procedures and temporarily increased their weather minimums in ATR operations. The incident is under investigation and some re-training was ordered by Finnish Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to get pilots used for new operating procedures and temporarily slightly increased weather minimus in ATR operations until all ATR crews are trained. Nowadays those restrictions are lifted and operations are back to normal again. ^[2]

Destinations

Finncomm Airlines operates the following services (as of August 2007):^[3]

Domestic

★ Enontekiö (Enontekiö) (Seasonal)

★ Helsinki (Helsinki-Vantaa Airport)

★ Joensuu (Joensuu Airport)

★ Jyväskylä (Jyväskylä Airport)

★ Kemi/Tornio (Kemi-Tornio Airport)

★ Kokkola/Jakobstad/Kruunupyy (Kruunupyy Airport)

★ Kuopio (Kuopio Airport)

★ Kuusamo (Kuusamo Airport) (Seasonal)

★ Pori (Pori Airport)

★ Savonlinna (Savonlinna Airport)

★ Seinäjoki (Seinäjoki Airport)

★ Tampere (Tampere-Pirkkala Airport)

★ Turku (Turku Airport)

★ Vaasa (Vaasa Airport)

Germany

★ Stuttgart (Stuttgart Airport)

Estonia

★ Tallinn (Tallinn Airport)

Fleet

The Finncomm Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of August 2007):^[4]

★ 2 ATR 72-500

★ 4 ATR 42-500

★ 2 Embraer ERJ 145LU

★ 4 Saab 340

★ On order: 5 ATR 72-500^[5]
On 13 June 2005 the airline placed a firm order for 8 ATR 42-500 aircraft (with a further 8 options). The initial aircraft will replace the Golden Air current fleet of Saab 340 aircraft that are operated by Finncomm on Finnish routes, feeding Finnair's Helsinki hub and operating on Finncomm's regional routes. Total contract value, including options, is around $250 million, with deliveries in the 2005 to 2007 time period. ^[6]

External links

★ Finncomm Airlines

★ Finncomm Embraer Fleet Detail

★ Finnish aviation authority curbs Finncomm turboprop pilots' rights (2007)

References

1. Flight International 3 April 2007
2. Finncomm aloittanut lentäjiensä täydennyskoulutuksen (in Finnish)
3. Finncomm Destinations
4. Finncomm Fleet
5. Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
6. Air International, July 2005