note

National airline of Finland is one of the world's oldest still operating. Finnair was formed by consul Bruno Lucander who ran operations of Aeronuat (Latvia) in Finland. In March 1924 first flight was conducted on route Helsinki - Tallinn, using floats equipped Junkers F.13. Junkers was also shareholder in the new venture. In June 1924 Helsinki - Stockholm was inaugurated. In 1937, first aircraft without floats, De Havilland Dragon Rapide entered service. After WWII, Finland government purchased 70% stake in Finnair. Like many others, Finnair obtained surplus Douglas DC-3s and Convair CV-240s. In 1953, present name Finnair was adopted. In February 1960, Finnair's first jet, a Sud Caravelle, was delivered. In 1962 Finnair acquired stake in another Finish carrier Kar-Air. In January 1969, Finnair received its first long-haul aircraft - Douglas DC-8. This enabled expansion beyond Europe. and Helsinki - New York route was added to the network in May. Another Douglas product, Douglas DC-9 formed backbone of Finnairs European network and the type was in use from 1971 till 2003! DC-9s have since been replaced by Airbus A320 family aircraft. In 1975, first wide-body jet, a Douglas DC-10-30, joined the fleet. In November 1976 first route to Far East was introduced when Helsinki - Bangkok was inaugurated. Tokyo was added in April 1983. In June 1988 Beijing was added to its network. In December 1990 Finnair received its first McDonnell Douglas MD-11 of which it was a launch customer. In 1999 Finnair became a member of OneWorld airline alliance. Finnair also served Toronto and Montreal in Canada and Los Angeles but those have been discontinued in 2002. Finnair long-haul focus is now on Far East. Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Seoul (starting 2009) and Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai and Bangkok are now served. Finnair is marketing its Asian destinations as shortest bridge between Europe and Asia. Helsinki has become more of a transit hub than a final destination and Finnair's European schedule is coordinated accordingly. Finnair employs just over 9,000 people. In 2008 6.8 million passengers were carried. In 2015 ca 10 million passengers were transported.

founded - demised (age)

November 1 1923 - present  (102years)

headquarters

Helsinki Vantaa Airport, Vantaa

web

www.finnair.com

base airports

EFHK Vantaa International Helsinki

hub and mx

related operators

KAR-AIR Oy	merged 1993
Aero Airlines	subsidiary
Finnaviation	subsidiary
FlyNordic	subsidiary
Oneworld	member