List of Airlines
Finnair Oyj
“Finnair Oyj” is the largest airline of Finland and the official flag-carrier of the country. The headquarters of the company are at the Helsinki Airport in the city of Vantaa. Finnair (IATA: AY, ICAO: FIN, Callsign: FINNAIR) serves more than 110 destinations in the whole world with a fleet of 80 aircraft. The government of Finland is a majority owner of Finnair or more specifically of the parental company “Finnair Group”.
Finnair was incorporated under the name “Aero O/Y” on 12th of September 1923 and was filed in the trade register on the next day. In the beginning, the aircraft were provided by “Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG” in exchange of 50% of the shares in the company. The first flight between Helsinki and Tallinn was commenced on a floats-equipped Junkers F.13 on 24th of March 1924. The use of seaplanes continued until 1936, when the construction of the first airport on land in Finland was complete.
The 1930s were difficult for the newly established airline, because of the consequences of the second World War. Large amount of the fleet was used by the Finnish Air Force. In the last years of the decade, the passenger traffic consisted mainly of Finnish children evacuated to Sweden. After the end of the war, the government of Finland acquired the majority stake in the company. In the 1947 the airline started to serve several European destinations with the new Douglas DC-3.
The 1950s were quite successful for the Finish carrier. The company started to brand itself with the name “Finnair” in 1953, following the refreshment of the fleet with Convair 440. This was a marketing strategy to emphasise the use of new pressurised engines and to strengthen its presence in the served flight destinations.
In the next several decades the fleet was gradually exchanged with jets of the type Caravelle 12, latter also acquiring Douglas DC-8 aircraft. In the 1960s the operations were gradually concentrated in the capital area and the headquarters were established in Helsinki. On 25th of June 1968, the airline officially changed its name to “Finnair”. Next year the first transatlantic flight between Helsinki and New York was commenced. In the 1970s the company acquired several McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 jets. In the 1979 a new company called “Finnaviation” was created, as a merger between “Wihuri OY Finnwings” and “Nordair OY”. In the next few years “Finnaviation” was acquired by “Finnair” as a subsidiary.
The 1980s were marked with a remarkable expansion of Finnair. The company established the very successful Helsinki-Tokio route, over the North Pole and circumventing the restrictions of the Soviet airspace. The aircraft were fitted with an extra fuel tanks, to manage the whole journey, without an intermediate stop. There were additional destinations in North America, such as Seattle and Los Angeles since 1981, towards China with the Helsinki-Beijing route since 1988 and also long-distance European flights, such as Helsinki-Tenerife and other South European destinations.
The success continued in the next several decades. The name of the company was changed to the current name, “Finnair Oyj”. This happened on On 25th of September 1997. In 1999, “Finnair” joined the “Oneworld” airline alliance. The same year, the company created a subsidiary in Tallinn, called “Aero Airlines”. In 2003 the small low-cost Swedish airline “Reguljair”/”Nordic East” was acquired by Finnair as a new subsidiary “Nordic Airlink Holding”, branded as “FlyNordic”. It was not very successful, as in 2005 “FlyNordic” underwent bankruptcy and the “Nordic Airlink Holding” was reorganised to keep the name “FlyNordic”. On 24th of April 2007, the shares of “FlyNordic” were bought by “Norwegian Air Shuttle” in exchange of 5% of ownership of Finnair in “Norwegian”. However, the deal propelled “Norwegian” as the largest low-cost airline of Scandinavia.
From 2006 and well into 2010s, Finnair was plagued by labour disputes and suffered from the increased market pressure of the other airlines in the region. This situation led to some restructuring of the company. The early 2020s were marked by the COVID-19 pandemics, which reduced the demand for flying in many regions in the worlds. Even though in 2021 Finnair saw some recovery, the closure of the Russian airspace in 2022, striped Finnair from revenue in several Asian destinations.
Currently, “Finnair Oyj” is part of the “Finnair Group” and member of “Oneworld” airline alliance. According to the financial statement of the “Finnair Group”, in 2022 there were 5,325 employees, serving more than 9 million passengers on the 80 aircraft. 56 of the airplanes were Airbuses owned and operated by Finnair and the rest are 24 ATR and Embraer aircraft owned by Finnair, but operated by Nordic Regional Airlines (Norra).
