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Finnair

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Finnair
File:Finnair logo.png
IATA ICAO Call sign
AY FIN Finnair
Founded1 November 1923[1]
HubsHelsinki-Vantaa Airport
Frequent-flyer programFinnair Plus
AllianceOneworld
Fleet size50
Destinations65
Parent companyFinnair Plc
HeadquartersVantaa, Finland
Key peopleJukka Hienonen (CEO)
Websitehttp://www.finnair.com
Finnair Airbus A320-200
Finnair MD-11, decorated with Moomin characters

Finnair is Finland's largest airline and the national 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).

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.

World War II proved difficult for the airline as Helsinki and other Finnish cities suffered air raids. 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 that were evacuated 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 official marketing brand. 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 (58.42%), and Icelandic investment funds have a sizeable portion of the rest. Finnair's stock is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The airline employs 8,711 staff (at January 2005). Currently 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

Finnair Boeing 757
Finnair Embraer 170
Finnair Airbus A340-300

The Finnair fleet consists of the following aircraft:[1]

Finnair fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers Routes Notes
Airbus A319-100 11 105-126
Airbus A320-200 12 124-150 New cabin seats during spring 2007
Airbus A321-200 6 154-181 New cabin seats during spring 2007
Airbus A340-300 1
(4 orders) 		269 (42/227)
295(42/253)
Airbus A350-900 (9 orders)
Boeing 757-200 6 227 Charter and leisure flights only Fleet to be configured with winglets
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (No -ERs in the fleet) 7 282 (36/246)
Embraer 170-100STD/LR 10 76
Embraer 190-100STD/LR 1
(9 orders) 		100

Retired fleet

The average Finnair fleet age is 6.2 years at April 2006.

On June 30, 2004 Finnair announced an order for twelve 76-seat Embraer 170 aircraft plus 8 options. 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. [2] [3]

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.[4]

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.

There has been speculation on buying at least two Airbus A330 MRTT planes together with the Finnish Defence Forces. Finnair's CEO Jukka Hienonen, however, states the plan is not currently receiving any serious consideration by the airline.[2]

The planform of an A320 (Finnair A320-200 taking off)

Finnair Plus

Finnair Plus is Finnair's frequent flyer programme. Passengers are awarded points based on the type and class of flight flown.

Levels

  • Finnair Plus Basic (the starting level)
  • Finnair Plus Junior (Finnair plus for minors)
  • Finnair Plus Silver for basic members who fly 60,000 points or 18 return flights abroad inside one year.(Equivalent to Oneworld Ruby)
  • Finnair Plus Gold for Silver members who fly 120,000 points or 42 return flights overseas in 12 months. (Equivalent to Oneworld Sapphire)
  • Finnair Plus Platinum for Gold members who fly 300,000 points or 85 return flights abroad in 24 months. (Equivalent to Oneworld Emerald)

See: Partners of Finnair Plus

Finnair Lounges

Finnair has lounges at two airports, and has contract lounges at all international destinations.

Locations

  • Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (7)
  • Stockholm-Arlanda Airport

Onboard entertainment

Blue Wings

File:Blue Wings Cover.png
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.

Codeshares

The routes operated by Finnair to/from Helsinki for partner airlines:

Operated for Destinations to/from Helsinki
Air China Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai-Pudong
Air France Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Oulu, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Tampere, Turku, Vaasa
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
American Airlines Frankfurt, London-Heathrow, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Zürich
British Airways London-Heathrow, Manchester, Oulu, Riga, Tallinn, Tampere, Turku, Vilnius
Iberia Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Frankfurt, Oulu, Madrid, Tampere, Turku
Japan Airlines Amsterdam, Frankfurt
Malév Budapest
Rossiya Russian Airlines St. Petersburg
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Qantas Bangkok, London-Heathrow, Singapore, Vienna, Warsaw, Zürich

Routes operated by other airlines for Finnair:

Operated by Routes
Aeroflot Helsinki-Moscow Sheremetyevo
Air France Paris-Bordeaux, Paris-Lyon, Paris-Marseille, Paris-Nice (All flights from Charles de Gaulle Airport)
American Airlines New York-Dallas, New York-Los Angeles, New York-Miami, New York-San Diego, New York-San Fransisco, New York-San Juan, New York-St.Louis, New York-San Jose, New York-Boston, New York-Montreal, New York-Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport, (All flights from JFK airport) London-Boston, London-Miami, London Chicago (all flights from Heathrow) Paris-Dallas, Paris-Miami, Paris-Boston (all flights from Charles de Gaulle Airport) Frankfurt-Chicago, Frankfurt-Dallas, Manchester, UK-Chicago, Zurich-Dallas
British Airways London-Helsinki, London-Stockholm, London-Edinburgh, London-Glasgow, London-Lisbon, London-Cape Town, London-Johannesburg, London-Montréal, London-Toronto (all flights from Heathrow), Manchester-Glasgow, Manchester-Edinburgh
City Airline Helsinki-Gothenburg
Czech Airlines Helsinki-Prague, Copenhagen-Prague
Finncomm Airlines Helsinki-Dusseldorf, Helsinki-Oslo, Helsinki-Stuttgart
Iberia Amsterdam-Madrid, Barcelona-Alicante, Barcelona-Malaga, Brussels-Barcelona, Frankfurt-Madrid, Stockholm-Madrid
Japan Airlines Nagoya-Sapporo, Nagoya-Fukuoka, Osaka-Sapporo, Fukuoka-Osaka, Fukuoka-Tokyo/Narita, Tokyo/Haneda-Osaka
Malév Helsinki-Budapest
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Helsinki-St. Petersburg
Qantas Bangkok-Sydney, Singapore-Brisbane
SN Brussels Airlines Helsinki-Brussels, Brussels-Bologna, Brussels-Geneva, Brussels-Lyon, Brussels-Marseille, Brussels-Tolouse, Brussels-Milan, Brussels-Turin, Brussels-Venice, Brussels-Florence, Brussels-Bilbao, Brussels-Seville, Brussels-Porto, Brussels-Birmingham
Ukraine International Airlines Helsinki-Kiev

Incidents and accidents

References

  1. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
  2. ^ Embraer orders
  3. ^ Embraer conversion of options to orders
  4. ^ A350 order
  5. ^ 1940 Ju 52 crash
  6. ^ 1961 DC-3 crash
  7. ^ 1963 DC-3 crash

See also: List of Finnish companies

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