Finnair

Finnair Plc is Finland's largest airline and the flag carrier, with its headquarters in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Finnair and its subsidiary companies dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest owner is the Finnish Government with 57.04% of the shares. 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.

History

Sud SE-210 Caravelle 10B3 Super B at Basle, 1976

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.

Airbus A321-200 landing

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 Rolls-Royce Avon-engined Caravelles to its fleet. These were later exchanged with the manufacturer for Pratt & Whitney JT8D-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.

Finnair MD-11 decorated with Moomin characters.

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] Finnair's stock is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. As of March 2007, the airline employed 9,447 staff.^[2] Finnair is the sixth oldest airline in the world with uninterrupted existence. It has also been ranked the second safest airline in the world.

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 with the introduction of Embraer jets. The domestic operations are partly carried out in cooperation with Finncomm Airlines, operating an ATR/Embraer fleet.

Fleet

Current fleet

The Finnair fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of October 2008)^[2] :

Finnair Boeing 757 in old livery

Finnair Embraer 170

Finnair Airbus A340-300

The average age of Finnair's fleet is 6.1 years as of 27th October 2008.^[6]

• On June 30, 2004 Finnair announced an order for twelve 76-seat Embraer 170 aircraft plus 8 options.^[7] 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.^[8][9]

• 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 2010. 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.^[10][11]

• Finnair received one A340-311 aircraft from Virgin Atlantic on June 12, 2006 which started operating on the Shanghai route from July 1. It initially flew 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

^[12]

• 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 (1960–1961)
• Sud Aviation Caravelle III (1961–1964)
• 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 F27 (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 (1995–1999)
• Boeing 737-210C (cargo version)

Airbus A320-200 taking off

Airbus A320-200 landing

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 passenger's 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, in addition to those in the Oneworld alliance:

• Finncomm Airlines
• Brussels 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

Finnair's in-flight magazine, Blue Wings, is published 10 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 on-board shop and route information. There are domestic and international newspapers on all flights and magazines on long-haul flights in business class.

On board

Finnair offers two classes of service on most international flights. In inter-continental business class, lie-flat seats are offered. On most European flights, operated with Airbus aircraft and lasting longer than two hours, warm meals are served in both classes. On shorter European flights a cold meal or snack is served with free non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine. On inter-continental Airbus flights all seats are equipted with Audio/Video On Demand (AVOD) system. In inter-continental business class on Airbus aircraft, there is dedicated snack bar.^[13]

Livery

Finnair has several special liveries. The most famous liveries are the "Moomins" and "Santa Claus". Recently, Finnair has painted one of it's Airbus A319s in 1950's retro livery. Also two other aircraft are taped in to special oneworld livery.

Uniform

Finnair cabin crew uniform was ranked as the fifth most stylish uniform in the French Bon Voyage magazine^[14]. Finnair has codes to indicate the rank of crew member: one stripe in the sleeve means normal cabin attendant , two stripes means a chief of cabin or service chef and three stripes a purser. Male cabin crew wear ties with planes printed on them and the pilots wear ties with little compasses. Only cabin crew wear scarfs. Finnair requires its cabin attendants to wear gloves during take off or landing for safety reasons.

Codeshare agreements

Finnair has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

† - also members of oneworld.

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.
• On 10 November 1937, an Aero O/Y Junkers Ju 52 nose engine dropped off into the sea during a scheduled flight from Turku to Stockholm. The pilots managed to land safely with two remaining engines. A broken propeller blade had caused a severe imbalance tearing the engine off its mounting.
• 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. At that time there was no war between Soviet Union and Finland.^[15] 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.^[16] The accident remains the worst in Finnish aviation history.
• On 8 November 1963 - Aero Flight 217, 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. 2 passengers and a flight attendant survived the crash.^[17]

References

External links

• Official website
• Finnair Group official website
• History of Oy Aero Ab

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