Finnair

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Image:Finnair.a320.arp.750pix.jpg Image:Finnair md11.jpg

Finnair is Finland's biggest airline and the national flag carrier. Its main hub is Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Intl. 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 2005 the airline transported 8.5 million passengers. Its route network covers 16 domestic and about 55 international destinations, in addition there are about 50 seasonal charter-flight destinations. As at 2005 the airline has not had a fatal accident since 1963, ranking it the second-safest airline of all time.

1 History
2 Destinations
3 Major incidents
4 Fleet
5 External links

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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, and 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 12 September 1923 and the company was entered into the trade register on 11 December 1923. The first flight was flown on 20 March 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 shareholding in the company and re-established services to Europe on 1 November 1947. In 1953, the name Finnair was adopted in the company's marketing strategy. In 1961, Finnair joined the jet age by adding a Caravelle to its fleet. In 1962 Finnair acquired a 27% controlling interest in another Finnish airline, Kar-Air. Finnair Oy became the company's official name on 25 June 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 opened on 15 May 1969.

In 1975, Finnair received its first wide-bodied aircraft as the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 entered into service. In 1979 it established its own domestic subsidiary company Finnaviation, with a 60% stake. In 1983, Finnair became the first airline in the world to fly non-stop from Western Europe to Japan as it started its Helsinki-Tokyo flights with McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER aircraft. In 1988, Finnair launched its Helsinki-Beijing route, making Finnair the first Western European carrier to fly non-stop between Europe and China. In 1987 Finnair became a launch customer for the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the first MD-11 was delivered to Finnair on Dec. 7, 1990. Finnair's first revenue service with the MD-11 occurred on December 20, 1990, when the aircraft carried passengers from Helsinki to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

Both Kar-Air and Finnaviation became wholly owned by Finnair and in 1997 were integrated into the mainline operations. On 25 September 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 by founding Aero Airlines, a start-up airline based in Tallinn, Estonia. In 2003 Finnair acquired ownership of Swedish low-cost airline, Flynordic, which operates within Scandinavia.

Finnair is owned by the State of Finland (58.42%) with other shareholders holding the rest of the stock. Finnair's stock is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The airline employs 8,711 staff (at January 2005). Finnair is the fifth oldest still-operating airline company in the world.

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Destinations

see full article: Finnair destinations.

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Major incidents

On 14 June 1940, Aero Junkers Ju52-3/mge aircraft Kaleva (Note: not Kalevala (reg. OH-ALL) flying from Tallinn to Helsinki was shot down by two Soviet bombers over the Gulf of Finland. At the time, Finland was not at war with any country.
On 3 January 1961, drunken pilots crashed a DC-3 (OH-LCC) in Koivulahti, Finland (Kvevlax in Swedish), killing all 25 on board. [1] The accident remains the worst in Finnish aviation history.
On 8 November 1963, a malfunctioning altimeter caused another DC-3 (OH-LCA) to crash near Mariehamn, Åland Islands, during low visibility conditions, killing 22 passengers and crew. [2]

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Fleet

The Finnair fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of December 2005): Image:Finnair 757 EFHK.jpg

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

On 30 June 2004 Finnair announced an order for twelve 76-seat Embraer 170 aircraft plus 8 options. On 2 December 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 and they will eventually replace the McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83 fleet, having already replaced its ATR 72 aircraft. [3] [4]

On 7 December 2005 Finnair announced an order for three Airbus A340-300E to be delivered from 2006 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. [5] Finnair has further decided to activate one of the options, bringing the order to 10 Airbus A350-900s and 3 options.

Finnair has also announced the launch of 8 A340-300 aircraft from Virgin Atlantic to replace MD-11 for long haul routes.

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