Founded in 1923, Finnair isthe fifth oldest airline in continuous operation and is consistently listed as one of the safest in the world.[11][12][13][14][15] The company's slogans areDesigned for you andThe Nordic Way.
In 1923, consul Bruno Lucander founded Finnair asAero O/Y (Aero Ltd). The company code, "AY", stands for AeroOsake-yhtiö ("yhtiö" means "company" in Finnish). Lucander had previously run the Finnish operations of the Estonian airlineAeronaut. In mid 1923, he concluded an agreement withJunkers 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 inHelsinki on 12 September 1923, and the company was entered into the trade register on 11 December 1923. The first flight was on 20 March 1924, from Helsinki toTallinn,Estonia, on aJunkers F.13 aircraft equipped with floats. Theseaplane service ended in 1936 following the construction of the firstaerodromes in Finland.[16]
Air raids on Helsinki and other Finnish cities madeWorld War II a difficult period for the airline. Half of the fleet was requisitioned by theFinnish Air Force and it was estimated that, during theWinter War in 1939 and 1940, half of the airline's passengers from other Finnish cities were children being evacuated toSweden.
The Finnish government wanted longer routes, so it acquired a majority stake in the company in 1946 and re-established services to Europe in November 1947, initially using theDouglas DC-3. In 1953, the airline began branding itself as Finnair. TheConvair 440 twin-engined pressurised airliner was acquired from January 1953, and these faster aircraft were operated on the company's longer routes as far asLondon.
In 1961, Finnair joined the jet age by addingRolls-Royce Avon-enginedCaravelles to its fleet. These were later exchanged with the manufacturer forPratt & 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 25 June 1968. In 1969, it took possession of its firstU.S. made jet, aDouglas DC-8. The first transatlantic service toNew York was inaugurated on 15 May 1969.[citation needed] In the 1960s, Finnair's head office was in Helsinki.[17]
Finnair received its first wide-body aircraft in 1975, twoDC-10-30 planes. The first of these arrived on 4 February 1975 and entered service on 14 February 1975, flying between Helsinki andNew York, later between Helsinki andLas Palmas.
Finnair createdFinnaviation was established in 1979. It was formed from the reorganization of Wihuri OYFinnwings (which had started services in 1950 asLentohuolto OY) and its merging withNordair OY. Scheduled domestic services began in October 1979. In the early 1980s, Finnair held a 60% shareholding.[18] Finnaviation was eventually completely merged into Finnair.[19][20]
In 1981, Finnair opened routes toSeattle andLos Angeles. Finnair became the first operator to fly non-stop fromWestern Europe toJapan, operating Helsinki–Tokyo flights with a modifiedMcDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER in April 1983.[16] Until then, flights had to go viaMoscow (Aeroflot,SAS,BA) orAnchorage (most carriers)[21] due toSovietairspace restrictions, but Finnair circumvented these by flying directly north from Helsinki, over theNorth Pole and back south through theBering Strait, avoiding Soviet airspace.[22] However, Finnair did not have to make a roundabout because of the Soviet regulation on this route, but the Japanese authorities demanded it (asJAL requested strongly).[23] The aircraft was fitted with extra fuel tanks, taking 13 hours for the trip.[16] The routes through Soviet airspace and with a stopover in Moscow also took 13 hours, but flights with a stopover in Anchorage took up to 16 hours, giving Finnair a competitive edge. In the spring of 1986, Soviet regulators finally cleared the way for Air France and Japan Airlines to fly nonstop Paris-Tokyo services over Soviet airspace, putting Finnair at a disadvantage.[24]
Finnair launched a Helsinki-Beijing route in 1988, making Finnair the first Western European carrier to fly non-stop betweenEurope andChina.[25] In 1989, Finnair became the launch customer for theMcDonnell Douglas MD-11, the first of which was delivered on 7 December 1990. The first revenue service with the MD-11 took place on 20 December 1990, with OH-LGA[discuss] operating a flight from Helsinki toTenerife in theCanary Islands.[26]
In 1997, the subsidiariesKar-Air andFinnaviation became wholly owned by Finnair and were integrated into the mainline operations. On 25 September 1997, the company's official name was changed to FinnairOyj.
In 1999, Finnair joined theOneworld airline alliance. In 2001, Finnair reused the name "Aero" when establishingAero Airlines, a subsidiary airline based inTallinn,Estonia.
In 2003, Finnair acquired ownership of theSwedishlow-cost airline,FlyNordic, which operated mainly withinScandinavia. In 2007, Finnair sold all its shares in FlyNordic toNorwegian Air Shuttle. As part of the transaction, Finnair acquired 4.8% of the latter company, becoming its third largest shareholder. Finnair later sold their shares in 2013.[27]
On 8 March 2007, Finnair became the first airline to order theAirbus A350 XWB aircraft, placing an order for 11 Airbus A350 XWB (plus 8 options), with delivery started in 2015.[28]
Finnair has suffered from many labour disputes in this period,[when?] resulting from cost-cutting measures prompted by competition from budget airlines.[29][30][31][32][33]
On 1 December 2011, Finnair transferred its baggage and apron services toSwissport International as per a five-year agreement signed on 7 November 2011.[34]
As of 2022, it transported about 2.9 million passengers,[35] a substantial decrease from 2019 asCOVID-19 pandemic shut down airports and airlines due to travel restrictions. At the end of 2022, the airline employed 5,325 people on average. From 2022 onwards, the Russian airspace closure resulting from theRussian invasion of Ukraine has forced Finnair to suspend some services to Asia.[36]
In March 2023, Finnair announced it would terminate domestic flights from bothTampere andTurku to Helsinki in favor of coach service due to low demand and the short distance.[37]
The group's parent company is Finnair Plc, which is listed on theNasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange and domiciled in Helsinki at the registered address Tietotie 9,Vantaa.[46]The State of Finland is the major shareholder (55.8%),[10][52] with no other shareholder owning more than 5% of shares.[46]
Two subsidiary companies, Finnair Cargo Oy and Finnair Cargo Terminal Operations Oy, form Finnair'scargo business.[53] The offices of both companies are atHelsinki Airport.[54][55] Finnair Cargo uses Finnair's fleet on its cargo operations.
Finnair Cargo has three hubs:
Helsinki Airport:Helsinki Airport is the main hub of Finnair Cargo. There is a new freight terminal at the airport, opened in the first half of 2017.
Brussels Airport: Finnair Cargo has usedBrussels Airport as a secondary hub for freight operations. Now the cargo airline operates its flights from BRU in co-operation withDHL Aviation (EAT Leipzig).
London Heathrow Airport:Heathrow Airport is the most recent hub addition to Finnair Cargo's route network. In cooperation withIAG Cargo, Finnair operates to LHR daily withAirbus A350 to carry extra freight.
Nordic Regional Airlines (Norra) is 40% owned by Finnair. The airline uses a fleet ofATR 72-500 aircraft, leased from Finnair, andEmbraer 190 aircraft, both painted in Finnair livery. The airline began operations on 20 October 2011 as a joint venture betweenFlybe and Finnair. The airline has operated under Finnair's flight code since 1 May 2015.
Finnair's head office, House of Travel and Transportation
Finnair's head office, known as the House of Travel and Transportation (or "HOTT"), is located on the grounds ofHelsinki Airport approximately 1 km south of the passenger terminal. The office opened in 2013, replacing the previous head office which stood on an adjacent lot. The mixed-use building has a total floor area of 70,000 square metres (750,000 sq ft) across seven floors, including 22,400 square metres (241,000 sq ft) of office space.[56]
The previous airport head office had been in use since 1994, then replacing an office located in centralHelsinki.[57][58] The last Helsinki head office, designed by architectAarne Ehojoki [fi], opened in 1972. Finnair fully vacated the building in 2013, and in 2016, it was converted into rental storage units.[59]
The company revealed a newlivery in December 2010. Major changes include a restyled and larger lettering on theaircraft body, repainting of theengines in white, and a reversal of the color scheme for thetail fin favoring a white background with a blue stylizedlogo. The outline of the globe was also removed from the tail fin.[60]
The current uniform was designed by Ritva-Liisa Pohjalainen and launched in December 2011.[9] Finnair has codes to indicate the rank of crew members: onestripe in thesleeve (orepaulettes in the case of male crew wearingvests) for normalCabin Crew, two stripes for Senior Cabin Crew (only for outsourcedSpanish crew) acting as aPurser, and three stripes for a Purser/Chief Purser. Additionally, some female Pursers have a white vertical stripe on their dresses orblouses indicating their years of service. Finnair requires its cabin crew to weargloves during take-off and landing for safety reasons. Finnair's previous cabin crew uniform was named the fifth most stylish uniform by the French magazineBon Voyage.[61]
Finnair flies from its Helsinki hub to over 80 destinations in over 35 countries inAsia including India ,Europe andNorth America. Finnair also serves six destinations in the United States. Previously the airline has servedAfrica andSouth America, including countries such asEgypt,Colombia andBrazil, but primarily on a leisure basis. Finnair has over 10 domestic destinations. Domestic flights are operated in co-operation with the airline's subsidiaryNordic Regional Airlines.
On 28 February 2022, Russia closed its airspace as a countermeasure to EU airspace closure. This meant many changes to Finnair's Asian services, as most of Finnair's flights between Europe and Asia had used the shortest, fastest, and most environmentally sound route over Russia.[62] In response, on 9 March 2022, flight AY073 departed from Helsinki to Tokyo Narita via the North Pole. Back in 1983, Finnair was the first airline to fly non-stop from Europe to Japan by flying over the North Pole – so operating in the polar region is not new to Finnair.[63]
Finnair received its firstnarrow-body aircraft manufactured byAirbus, theAirbus A321, on 28 January 1999. Now, the airline operates a fleet of up to 15 A321s. The firstAirbus A319 aircraft was delivered to Finnair on 20 September 1999. Since then, Finnair has received 11 A319s, but three of them are now retired. Finnair utilizes Airbus A319,A320, and A321 aircraft on domestic and European flights. TheAirbus A321-231 aircraft, which are equipped withSharklets, are also used on some thinner long-haul flights such as toDubai.ATR 72-500 andEmbraer 190 are operated byNordic Regional Airlines and are also used on domestic and European flights.
On 8 March 2007, Finnair firmed up its orders for 11Airbus A350 aircraft with 8 options. On 3 December 2014, it was announced that Finnair had firmed up the contract for eight additional Airbus A350 aircraft deliveries starting in 2018.[28] On 13 August 2014, Finnair announced plans to initially deploy its A350 aircraft on services to Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai from 2015, with A350 services to Hong Kong and Singapore to be added in 2016. As of April 2019, Finnair operates the Airbus A350 toBangkok,Beijing,Guangzhou,Hong Kong,Ho Chi Minh City,Krabi,Los Angeles,Nagoya,Osaka,Phuket,Puerto Vallarta,Seoul,Shanghai,Singapore andTokyo. Finnair also operated A350 aircraft on several flights toNew York in January 2016 and became the first European airline to operate the A350 to the United States.[91] Finnair sometimes uses the A350 on the morning AY1331 flight from Helsinki toLondon–Heathrow to carry extra freight as well. Also, AY121/122 operating to New Delhi is also being served by the A350 as of 1 Nov 2022. As of autumn 2024, Finnair began operating the A350 daily to Gran Canaria as AY1721. Seldomly, it also operates to Amsterdam, Munich and Brussels.
Finnair took delivery of its first A350 aircraft on 7 October 2015, becoming the third airline to operate the aircraft afterQatar Airways andVietnam Airlines.[92] According to the current delivery schedule, it will receive two A350 aircraft per year in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and one in 2022. Altogether, Finnair had 19 A350 aircraft in 2022.
Due to an aging narrow-body fleet, Finnair plans to retire theAirbus A320 family and replace them with new generation aircraft. The airline estimates to invest up to €4 billion in fleet renewal between 2020 and 2025. Revealed at its Capital Markets Day on November 12, 2019, Finnair plans to grow the size of its fleet from the current 83 (as of November 2019) to approximately 100 by 2025, of which 70% is planned to benarrow-body aircraft and 30%wide-body aircraft. One-third of the total investment sum would be used for growth, while two-thirds would be to replace the current fleet.[93] According to Bloomberg, Finnair will replace the old aircraft with eitherAirbus A320neo family orBoeing 737 MAX new generation aircraft.[94] The carrier has also revealed that it is looking for suitable narrow-body aircraft forlong-haul use.[95]
On 18 December 2015, Finnair decided to improve the space efficiency of its current Airbus narrow-body fleet due to a growing need for feeder traffic capacity. The value of the investment is approximately EUR 40 million, and it includes 22 narrow-body Airbus aircraft in Finnair's fleet. The cabin layout change excludes five A321 aircraft, which are already configured according to the plan, having 209 seats. The cabin reconfiguration was estimated to take two weeks per aircraft during 2017. The reconfiguration adds 6 to 13 seats depending on the aircraft type, increasing the passenger capacity of Finnair's Airbus narrow-body fleet as measured by available seat kilometers by close to 4 percent.[96] Finnair also planned to increase its narrow-body fleet. As a first step, Finnair leased eight Airbus A321 narrow-body aircraft fromBOC Aviation.
Finnair has occasionally suffered from aircraft shortages and therefore has resorted toleased andwet-leased aircraft. For instance, in March 2016, Finnair announced it would lease two Airbus A321 aircraft fromAir Berlin for Finnair's European operations. These two aircraft were delivered in late April 2016 to Finnair. The airline used these A321s on flights fromHelsinki toAmsterdam,Berlin,Copenhagen,Dubrovnik,Düsseldorf,Ljubljana,Paris,Split,Vienna, andZürich.[97] On 15 December 2016, Finnair announced it would lease twoAirbus A321s from CDB Aviation Lease Finance. The first aircraft was scheduled for delivery to Finnair for the 2017-2018 winter season and the second for the 2018 summer season. Seven of the ordered aircraft were delivered in 2017.[98]
The Finnair-branded short-haul network also includes 24 regional aircraft operated by Nordic Regional Airlines (12 ATR 72 and 12 E-190).
Finnair announced the order for 11Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and 8 options on 8 March 2007. Finnair planned to retire olderAirbus A340 aircraft by the end of 2017 and replace them with brand new A350 aircraft. As of 1 February 2017, all Airbus A340 aircraft are withdrawn from the fleet. The very last A340 (OH-LQE) operated its last flight from Tokyo to Helsinki on 1 February 2017. Finnair firmed up orders for eight additional A350 aircraft on 3 December 2014. The first A350 was delivered to Finnair in October 2015, and the airline became the first European operator of theAirbus A350.
As of November 2019, Finnair had 14 A350-900s, with a further 5 to be delivered between 2020 and 2022. The Finnish flag carrier also has considered switching some of the orders for theAirbus A350-900 to theAirbus A350-1000 aircraft but decided to keep the orders for only the A350-900. At the beginning of 2017, Finnair revealed plans to add more seats to some of the Airbus A350 aircraft in order to increase capacity by up to 13%. The new seat configuration has 32 seats inBusiness Class, 42 seats in Economy Comfort Class, and 262 inEconomy Class, a total of 336 seats. This second seat configuration was initially planned to be used on routes with less business class demand such as Bangkok, Beijing, and Seoul, as well as on routes to leisure destinations but they have also been utilized on other busy routes such asShanghai,Osaka, andTokyo.[99]
Finnair has modified its previous fleet plan to retire two ofAirbus A330 aircraft, which was established in 2014. The 2016 fleet plan now involves keeping its A330 fleet as its A350s are delivered, rather than withdrawing two of them in 2017, and shall retire those aircraft sometime in the 2020s at the earliest. The airline's plan to retire two A330s was not the only change that was planned. Under the previous plan, the long-haul fleet was to grow by one per year, from 15 in 2015 to 20 in 2020. Under the 2016 plan, it was planned to grow to 22 in 2020, and to 26 in 2023. However, should market conditions be weaker than expected, Finnair has the flexibility to return the wide-body fleet to a total of 15 aircraft in 2019 and to maintain it at this level through to 2023. Some of the new A350 aircraft will increase the number of aircraft operated by Finnair.
Finnair's current special liveries areMarimekko "Kivet", Marimekko 50th anniversary "Unikko",Oneworld liveries, and the Christmas special "Reindeer" liveries. Past Finnair special liveries include "Marimekko Unikko", "Moomins", "Santa Claus", 1950s retro livery andAngry Birds.
One of the aircraft, after changing hands several times, is now the flagship aircraft of the international disaster relief organizationSamaritan's Purse.
Business class is offered on the entire Airbus fleet. On long-haul aircraft, the seats are equipped with personalin-flight entertainment. Zodiac Cirrus III seats are fitted in business class on allwide-body aircraft. Each seat has direct aisle access and reclines to a 78-inch full flat bed. In February 2022, Finnair unveiled new long-haul business class seats, alongside the debut of a premium economy cabin. The seats are based on theCollins Aerospace's Aerospace AirLounge. The seats are enclosed in a shell with no recline capabilities. According to the airline, this allows passengers to choose a wide variety of sitting and sleeping positions.[citation needed]
Premium economy, Finnair's newest class of service, was introduced in February 2022. It is currently rolled out on the Airbus A330s and A350s. The seats are based on the Vector Premium byHAECO.[citation needed]
Finnair's English-languagein-flight magazine,Blue Wings, was published 10 times a year. The first edition ofBlue Wings magazine was published in 1980.[105] It was discontinued in 2020 and is now available online in Finnish and English. Domestic and international newspapers are available online on Finnair Nordic Sky portal during flights. As of 2023,Blue Wings has been reintroduced in physical form for Finnair's centenary year and the years to come.[105]
On 10 November 1937, aJunkers Ju 52 en route fromTurku toStockholm suffered the detachment of the nose-engine whilst over thesea. The pilots managed to successfullyland the aircraft with no fatalities. A brokenpropeller blade resulted in a severe imbalance that tore the engine off.
On 7 June 1941, a Ju 52 aircraft equipped withfloats was forced to make anemergency landing after losing power on all three engines due to fuel impurity. Although the aircraft was recovered and returned to service, the two occupants of the aircraftdrowned while attempting to swim to safety.
On 8 November 1963,Flight 217 fromHelsinki toMariehamn viaTurku flown by aDC-3 crashed into terrain on final approach to Mariehamn. The soleflight attendant and twopassengers were the only survivors of the crash. The cause was believed to have been poor visibility and a malfunctioningaltimeter that tricked the pilots into believing they were higher than they really were. 20 passengers and two crew were killed. To date, this is Finnair's last fatal accident.
On 30 September 1978,Flight 405 fromOulu to Helsinki flown bySud Aviation Caravelle washijacked by Aarno Lamminparras armed with apistol (Finland did not perform security checks ondomestic flights), who held the 48 other passengers and crewhostage. The plane continued to Helsinki, where 34 of the 44 passengers were released before returning toOulu where the hijacker received a largeransom from Finnair. The plane then returned to Helsinki for another ransom from a Finnish newspaper before flying toAmsterdam and then back to Helsinki before returning to Oulu. Thehijacker released the last hostages and departed the plane before beingarrested on October 1 at his home.
On 23 December 1987,Flight 915 fromTokyo to Helsinki was allegedly shot at by amissile whilst overSvalbard. The missile allegedly exploded in the air before striking theDC-10. The events were not revealed until 2014.[108]
^"1994Archived 2011-07-11 at theWayback Machine." Finnair Group. Retrieved on 14 February 2010. "Finnair's head office moved from the centre of Helsinki to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. The official 'house-warming' at Tietotie 11 was held on 11 January."