Finnair

Finnair

IATA ICAO Callsign AY FIN FINNAIR
Founded	1 November 1923 (1923-11-01) (as Aero O/Y)[1]
Hubs	Helsinki Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Finnair Plus Finnair Lounge Finnair Premium Lounge
Alliance	Oneworld
Subsidiaries	Finnair Facilities Management Finnair Cargo Finnair Aircraft Finance Finnair Travel Services Nordic Regional Airlines
Fleet size	82 (incl. Nordic Regional Airlines)[2]
Destinations	132[3]
Company slogan	Designed for you, or The Nordic Way
Parent company	Finnair Group[4]
Traded as	Nasdaq Helsinki: FIA1S
Headquarters	Helsinki Airport Vantaa, Finland[5]
Key people	Topi Manner, CEO[6]
Revenue	EUR 2,834 million (2018)[7]
Operating income	EUR 169 million (2018)[7]
Net income	EUR 150 million (2018)[7]
Total assets	EUR 2,943 million (2018)[7]
Total equity	EUR 1,021 million (2018)[7]
Employees	6,462 (31 December 2018)[7]
Website	finnair.com

Finnair (Finnish: Finnair Oyj, Swedish: Finnair Abp)^[8] is the flag carrier^[9] and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international air travel in Finland. Its major shareholder is the government of Finland, which owns 55.8%^[10] of the shares. Finnair is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance. In 2017, it transported about 12 million passengers to over 100 European, 20 Asian and 7 North American destinations. At the end of 2017, the airline employed 5,918 people.^[2]

Finnair is the sixth oldest airline in continuous operation. With no fatal or hull-loss accidents since 1963, Finnair is consistently listed as one of the safest airlines in the world (#1 in 2018).^[11]

History[edit]

Founding[edit]

In 1923, consul Bruno Lucander founded Finnair as Aero O/Y (Aero Ltd). The company code, "AY", stands for Aero Yhtiö ("yhtiö" means "company" in Finnish). 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 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 to Tallinn, Estonia on a Junkers F.13 aircraft equipped with floats. The seaplane service ended in December 1936 following the construction of the first aerodromes in Finland.

World War II[edit]

Air raids on Helsinki and other Finnish cities made World War II a difficult period for the airline. Half the fleet was requisitioned by the Finnish Air Force and it was estimated that, during the Winter War in 1939 and 1940, half of the airline's passengers from other Finnish cities were children being evacuated to Sweden.

Immediate postwar period[edit]

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 the Douglas DC-3. In 1953, the airline began branding itself as Finnair. The Convair 440 twin-engined pressurised airliner was acquired from January 1953 and these faster aircraft were operated on the company's longer routes as far as London.

Jet Age (1970s)[edit]

In 1961, Finnair joined the jet age by adding Rolls-Royce Avon-engined Caravelles to its fleet. These were later exchanged with the manufacturer for Pratt & 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 first U.S. made jet, a Douglas DC-8. The first transatlantic service to New York was inaugurated on 15 May 1969.^{[citation needed]} In the 1960s, Finnair's head office was in Helsinki.^[12]

Finnair received its first wide-body aircraft in 1975, two DC-10-30 planes. The first of these arrived on 4 February 1975, and entered service on 14 February 1975, flying between Helsinki and New York, and later between Helsinki and Las Palmas.

Finnair created Finnaviation was established in 1979. It was formed from the reorganisation of Wihuri OY Finnwings (which had started services in 1950 as Lentohuolto OY) and its merging with Nordair OY. Scheduled domestic services began in October 1979. In the early 1980s Finnair held a 60% shareholding.^[13] Finnaviation was eventually completely merged into Finnair.^[14][15]

Expansion (1980s)[edit]

In 1981, Finnair opened routes to Seattle and Los Angeles. Finnair became the first operator to fly non-stop from Western Europe to Japan operating Helsinki-Tokyo flights with a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER in 1983. Until then, flights had to go via Moscow (Aeroflot, SAS, BA) or Anchorage (most carriers)^[16] due to Soviet airspace restrictions, but Finnair circumvented these by flying directly north from Helsinki, over the North Pole and back south through the Bering Strait, avoiding the Soviet airspace.^[17] However, Finnair did not have to make a roundabout because of the Soviet regulation on this route, but the Japanese authorities demanded it (what JAL requested strongly).^[18] The aircraft was fitted with extra fuel tanks, taking 13 hours for the trip.^[19] The routes through Soviet airspace and with a stopover in Moscow also took 13 hours, but flights with a stopover at 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.^[20]

Finnair launched a Helsinki-Beijing route in 1988, making Finnair the first Western European carrier to fly non-stop between Europe and China.^{[citation needed]} In 1989, Finnair became the launch customer for the McDonnell 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 to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.^{[citation needed]}

Subsidiary airlines (1990s–2000s)[edit]

In 1997, the subsidiaries Kar-Air and Finnaviation became wholly owned by Finnair, and were integrated into the mainline operations. On 25 September 1997, the company's official name was changed to Finnair Oyj.

In 1999, Finnair joined the Oneworld airline alliance. In 2001, Finnair reused the name "Aero" when establishing Aero Airlines, a subsidiary airline based in Tallinn, Estonia.

In 2003, Finnair acquired ownership of the Swedish low-cost airline, FlyNordic, which operated mainly within Scandinavia. In 2007, Finnair sold all its shares in FlyNordic to Norwegian 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.^[21]

On 8 March 2007, Finnair became the first airline to order the Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, placing an order for 11 Airbus A350 XWB (plus 8 options), with delivery to start in 2015.^[22]

Labour disputes and restructuring (2006–present)[edit]

Finnair has suffered from many labour disputes in this period, resulting from cost-cutting measures prompted by competition from budget airlines.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

On 1 December 2011, Finnair transferred its baggage and apron services to Swissport International as per a five-year agreement signed on 7 November 2011.^[28]

Corporate affairs[edit]

Ownership and structure[edit]

The group's parent company is Finnair Plc, which is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange, and is domiciled in Helsinki at the registered address Tietotie 9, Vantaa.^[29] The State of Finland is the major shareholder (55.8%),^[10][30] with no other shareholder owning more than 5% of shares.^[29]

Subsidiaries and associates[edit]

Finnair Cargo[edit]

Two subsidiary companies, Finnair Cargo Oy and Finnair Cargo Terminal Operations Oy, form Finnair's cargo business.^[31] The offices of both companies are at Helsinki Airport.^[32][33] Finnair Cargo uses currently 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 under construction at the airport, scheduled to be opened in the first half of 2017.
• Brussels Airport: Finnair Cargo has used Brussels Airport as a secondary hub for freight operations. Now the cargo airline operates its flights from BRU in co-operation with DHL Aviation (EAT Leipzig).
• London Heathrow Airport: Heathrow Airport is the most recent hub addition to Finnair Cargo's route network. In co-operation with IAG Cargo, Finnair operates to LHR daily with Airbus A350 to carry extra freight.

Nordic Regional Airlines[edit]

Nordic Regional Airlines (Norra) is 40% owned by Finnair. The airline uses ATR 72-500 leased from Finnair and Embraer E190 aircraft. All Embraer aircraft are painted in Finnair livery. The airline began operations on 20 October 2011 as a joint venture between Flybe and Finnair. The airline has operated under Finnair's flight code since 1 May 2015.

Business trends[edit]

The key trends for Finnair over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 December):

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Turnover (€ m)	1,558	1,683	1,871	1,990	2,181	2,256	1,838	2,023	2,257	2,449	2,400	2,284	2,254	2,316	2,568	2,834
Profit (EBT) (€ m)	−22	31	88	−15	139	−62	−125	−33	−111.5	16.5	11.9	−36.5	23.7	55.2	170.4	169.4
Number of employees (average)	9,981	9,522	9,447	9,598	9,480	9,595	8,797	7,578	7,467	6,784	5,859	5,172	4,906	5,045	5,852	6,360
Number of passengers (m)	6.8	8.1	8.5	8.8	8.7	8.3	7.4	7.1	8.0	8.8	9.2	9.6	10.3	10.8	11.9	13.2
Passenger load factor (%)	69.6	71.2	72.6	75.2	75.5	75.2	75.9	76.5	73.3	77.6	79.5	80.2	80.4	79.8	83.3	81.8
Number of aircraft (at year end)	59	69	69	72	62	65	68	63	65	60	70	67	72	73	79	81
Notes/sources	[34]	[35]	[36]	[37]	[38]	[39]	[40]	[41]	[42]	[43]	[44]	[45]	[46]	[29]	[2]	[7]

Head office[edit]

In 2013, Finnair opened its new head office, known as House of Travel and Transportation (or "HOTT"), on what used to be a car park right next to its previous head office located in Tietotie 11, on the grounds of Helsinki Airport. The construction of HOTT began in July 2011 and finished on time in June 2013. The previous head office had been in use since 1994, then replacing a head office located in Helsinki city centre.^[47][48]

The new mixed-use head office has a total floor space of 70,000 square metres (750,000 sq ft) and 22,400 square metres (241,000 sq ft) of office space.^[49]

Corporate design[edit]

Livery[edit]

The company revealed a new livery in December 2010. Major changes include a restyled and larger lettering on the body, repainting of the engines in white, and a reversal of the color scheme for the tail fin favoring a white background with a blue stylized logo. The outline of the globe was also removed from the tail fin.^[50]

Flight attendant uniforms[edit]

The current uniform was designed by Ritva-Liisa Pohjalainen and launched in December 2011. Finnair has codes to indicate the rank of crew members: One stripe in the sleeve (or epaulettes in the case of male crews wearing vests) for normal Cabin Crew, two stripes for Senior Cabin Crew (only for outsourced Spanish crew) acting as a Purser, and three stripes for a Purser/Chief Purser. Additionally, some female Pursers have a white vertical stripe on their dresses or blouses indicating their years of service. Finnair requires its cabin crew to wear gloves during take-off and landing for safety reasons. Finnair's previous cabin crew uniform was named the fifth most stylish uniform by the French magazine Bon Voyage.^[51]

Partnerships[edit]

Finnair has several partnerships with following companies and airlines including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Deutsche Bahn (DB), Chinese JD.com, Japan Airlines and Marimekko.

Marketing[edit]

As of 2015^[update] Finnair had a Weibo account for Chinese customers. Sheng Wei, author of the 2015 thesis "Brand Image of Finnair Among Young Wealthy Chinese People in Chinese Social Media," stated that it was not often updated.^[52] In 2017 it began allowing customers to pay with Alipay, another Chinese service.^[53]

Destinations[edit]

Finnair flies from its Helsinki hub to over 130 destinations in over 40 countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Unlike several other major European airlines, North America is not the main long-haul market for Finnair but Asia, where the airline has around 20 destinations. However, in North America, Finnair serves seven destinations: four in the United States and three destinations in Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. Previously the airline has served Africa and South America, including countries such as Egypt, Colombia, and Brazil, but primarily on a leisure basis. Nearly half of Finnair's destinations are operated on a seasonal basis, but recently the airline has been switching those destinations to year-round service. Finnair has over 10 domestic destinations. Some domestic flights are operated in co-operation with or completely by the airline's subsidiary Nordic Regional Airlines.

Finnair does not face direct competition on any long-haul route the airline operates as Finnair is the sole operator on all routes (except for Tokyo which is operated in cooperation with Japan Airlines). In Asia, China and Japan are the two main markets, but other countries, such as South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore, are also important to the airline. In summer 2018, Finnair operates up to 97 weekly flights to Asia. The airline plans to extend its network in Asia in the future with new destinations and additional flights as well as considers adapting narrow-body aircraft on some flights to smaller Asian cities.^[54] In August 2018, Finnair announced capacity increases in Asia, where flights to Hong Kong increase from 10 to 14 flights a week and to Osaka, there will be ten weekly flights instead of seven. In the summer season of 2019 Tokyo and Hong Kong are the largest long-haul routes by capacity. In the United States Finnair has four destinations including Chicago, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. The airline has recently expanded the offering to the U.S. by opening new routes and additional frequencies. As of 31 March 2018, Finnair will also be flying to Los Angeles with Airbus A350 aircraft.^[55]

Codeshare agreements[edit]

Finnair codeshares with the following airlines:^[56]

Joint Venture Agreements[edit]

In particular, Finnair has joint venture with the following airlines:^[63][64]

• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines

Fleet[edit]

Current fleet[edit]

As of November 2017, the Finnair fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[65][66]

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers					Notes
			J	W	Y	Total	Refs
Airbus A319-100	8	—	14	—	124	138	[67]	To be phased out by 2022[68]
					130	144	[7]
Airbus A320-200	11	—	14	—	151	165	[69]	1 Leased from GetJet A320 LY-FOX.[70] To be phased out by 2022[68]
					160	174	[71]
Airbus A321-200	19	—	16	—	180	196	[72]	Oldest aircraft to be phased out by 2022[68]
					193	209	[73]
Airbus A330-300	8	—	45	40	178	263	[74]	Cabins to be refurbished 2020-2022[75] To be retrofitted with Premium Economy from 2020.[76]
			32		217	289	[77]
Airbus A350-900	13	6	46	43	208	297	[78]	Deliveries until 2022.[79][80] To be retrofitted with Premium Economy from 2020.[81]
			32	42	262	336	[82]
ATR 72-500	12	—	—	—	68	68	[83]	All leased to Nordic Regional Airlines[84] Cabins to be refurbished from 2019.[85]
					72	72	[86]
Embraer E190	12	—	12	—	88	100	[87]	Operated by Nordic Regional Airlines
Total	83	6

Aircraft types[edit]

Narrow-body aircraft[edit]

Finnair received its first narrow-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus, Airbus A321, on 28 January 1999. Now the airline operates the fleet of up to 19 A321s. The first Airbus 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. Airbus A321-231, which are equipped with winglets, is also used on some long-haul flights such as to Dubai. ATR 72-500 and Embraer E190 are operated by Nordic Regional Airlines and are also used on domestic and European flights.

Airbus A330[edit]

Finnair received its first A330-300s on 27 March 2009.^[88] Now the airline has eight Airbus A330-300 aircraft in the fleet. As of December 2017, the airline utilizes A330 on intercontinental flights from Helsinki to Chicago, Chongqing, Delhi, Fukuoka, Goa, Guangzhou, Miami, Nagoya, New York, Puerto Plata, San Francisco and Xi'an. As of May 2018, Finnair will be using A330 also on flights to Nanjing. The A330s are powered by General Electric CF6-80E1 engines.^[88]

Airbus A350[edit]

On 8 March 2007, Finnair firmed up its orders for 11 Airbus A350-900 aircraft with 8 options. On 3 December 2014, it was announced that Finnair had firmed up the contract for 8 additional Airbus A350-900 aircraft deliveries starting in 2018.^[22] On 13 August 2014, Finnair announced plans to initially deploy its A350-900 aircraft on services to Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai from 2015, with A350 services to Hong Kong and Singapore to be added in 2016. Currently Finnair operates the Airbus A350 to Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Havana, Ho Chi Minh City, Osaka, Krabi, Phuket, Puerto Vallarta, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. Finnair also operated A350 aircraft on several flights to New York in January 2016 and became the first European airline to operate the A350 to the United States.^[89] Finnair uses the A350 daily on the morning AY1331 flight from Helsinki to London–Heathrow to carry extra freight as well.

Finnair took delivery of its first A350-900 XWB aircraft on 7 October 2015, becoming the third airline to operate the aircraft, after Qatar Airways and Vietnam Airlines.^[90] According to the current delivery schedule, it will receive two A350 XWB aircraft in each 2019, 2020, 2021 and one in 2022. Altogether Finnair will have 19 A350 aircraft in 2022.

Future fleet plans[edit]

Due to an aging narrow-body fleet, Finnair plans to retire the Airbus A320–family by 2022, excluding 12 newer Airbus A321 aircraft. The airline plans to replace old aircraft with 20-30 new Airbus A320neo family or Boeing 737 MAX new-generation aircraft. In addition to the narrow-body fleet, Finnair plans to order more Airbus A350 wide-body aircraft in the coming years.^[91] The airline has also considered switching some of the orders for the A350-900 to the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft but decided to keep the orders for only A350-900. In the beginning of 2017, Finnair revealed plans to add more seats to some of the Airbus A350 aircraft on order to increase capacity by up to 13%. The new seat configuration will have 32 seats in Business Class, 42 seats in Economy Comfort Class and 262 in Economy 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 such as Phuket, Krabi or Puerto Vallarta.^[92]

Finnair announced the order for 11 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and 8 options on 8 March 2007. Finnair planned to retire older Airbus 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 the Airbus A350.

Finnair has modified its previous fleet plan to retire two of Airbus 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 in the 2020s at the earliest. 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 will now 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. The Finnish flag carrier now has 13 A350-900s and a further 6 to be delivered by 2022 (one in 2019, and the rest 5 aircraft between 2020 and 2022).

The Finnair-branded short-haul network also includes 24 regional aircraft operated by Nordic Regional Airlines (12 ATR72 and 12 E190). The combined narrowbody/regional fleet comprised a total of 54 aircraft the end of Mar-2016. This total is set to climb only to 55 in 2023, with downside flexibility to fall to 17. Finnair plans for the A320 family fleet to grow to 36 aircraft in 2020, with the A319 fleet falling to seven and the A321 fleet rising to 19.

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 A321ER aircraft, which are already configured according to the plan, having 209 seats. The cabin reconfiguration is 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.^[93] Finnair also has planned to increase the number of its narrow-body fleet. As a first step, Finnair will lease eight Airbus A321 narrow-body aircraft.

In March 2016, Finnair announced it would lease two Airbus A321 aircraft from Air Berlin for Finnair's European operations. These two aircraft were delivered in late April 2016 to Finnair. The airline has used these A321s on flights from Helsinki to Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Düsseldorf, Ljubljana, Paris, Split, Vienna and Zürich.^[94]

On 15 December 2016, Finnair announced it would lease two Airbus A321s from CDB Aviation Lease Finance. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery to Finnair for the winter season 2017/2018 and the second for the summer season 2018. Seven of the ordered aircraft will be delivered in 2017.^[95]

Special liveries[edit]

Finnair's current special liveries are Marimekko "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 and Angry Birds.

Registration	Livery	Aircraft	Source
OH-LVD	Oneworld livery	Airbus A319-100	[96]
OH-LTO	Marimekko 50th Anniversary "Unikko" Livery	Airbus A330-300	[97]
OH-LWB	Oneworld-livery	Airbus A350-900	[98]
OH-LWL	Marimekko Kivet-livery		[99]
OH-LKN	Oneworld-livery	Embraer 190	[100]

Historical fleet[edit]

Finnair has previously operated the following equipment:^[101]

Aircraft	Total[102]	Introduced	Retired	Notes
ATR 42-300	6	1986	1990
ATR 72-500	12	1990	Present	Launch Customer
Airbus A300B4-200FF	2	1986	2004	Equipped with a 2-crew cockpit
Airbus A319-100	11	1999	Present	Two aircraft have been retired.[102]
Airbus A320-200	12	2001	Present	Two aircraft have been retired.[102]
Airbus A321-200	18	1999	Present
Airbus A330-300	8	2009	Present
Airbus A340-300	7	2006	2017	Last commercial service was on 1 February 2017[103][104] After retired, it was replaced by Airbus A350-900. Three aircraft were former Air France and Virgin Atlantic fleets. Two aircraft were disposed to Air Belgium. The three others are currently in storage.[105]
Airbus A350-900	13	2015	Present
Boeing 757-200	7	1997	2014	Replaced by Airbus A321-200.
Convair CV-440 Metropolitan	Unknown	1953	1980
de Havilland Dragon Rapide	Unknown	1937	1947
Douglas DC-2	Unknown	1941	1948
Douglas DC-3	Unknown	1947	1969
Douglas DC-8-62CF	Unknown	1969	1981
Douglas DC-8-62	Unknown	1975	1985
Douglas DC-9 Series	27	1971	2003
Embraer E170	10	2005	2016	Operated by Nordic Regional Airlines.
Embraer E190	12	2007	Present	Operated by Nordic Regional Airlines.
Fokker F27	Unknown	1980	1987
Junkers F.13	Unknown	1924	1935
Junkers G.24	Unknown	1926	1935
Junkers Ju 52/3m	Unknown	1932	1949
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30	4	1975	1996
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER	1	1981	1995
McDonnell Douglas MD-11	7	1990	2009	Launch Customer Ater retired, all fleets are converted into freighter Replaced by Airbus A340-300 aircraft
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F	2	2010	2011	Disposed to Nordic Global Airlines
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 family	26	1983	2006
Sud Aviation Caravelle 1A	Unknown	1960	1961
Sud Aviation Caravelle III	Unknown	1961	1964
Sud Aviation Caravelle 10B Super Caravelle	Unknown	1964	1986

In the early 1980s the fleet of the Finnaviation subsidiary consisted of: an Aero Commander 690, a Beech 95-A55 Baron, Cessna F150J (2), a Cessna 401B, a Cessna F172M, a Cessna 401A, Cessna 404 Titan (2), a Cessna 441 Conquest, a Cessna 402B, a Cessna 425 Corsair, a Cessna F172P, Cessna F152 (2), Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (3), a Dassault Falcon 200, a Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee, a Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six and a Cessna T188C Husky.^[13]

• 

  Airbus A340-300 in Oneworld-livery

• 

  Finnair Boeing 757-200

• 

  Finnair McDonnell Douglas DC-10

• 

  Finnair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 decorated with Moomin characters

• 

  Finnair A350-900 at Narita International Airport in 2017

• 

  Saab 340 in 1999 still carrying Finnaviation colours

Services[edit]

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Frequent-flyer programme[edit]

Finnair's frequent-flyer programme is called Finnair Plus. Passengers are awarded points based on the type and class of flight flown. Once enough miles are banked into the passenger's account, a membership tier (Basic, Silver, Gold, or Platinum) is awarded. There is a Junior tier exclusively for minors. Silver, Gold, and Platinum members have privileges such as premium check-in desks and priority boarding.

Finnair offers frequent-flyer partnerships with Nordic Regional Airlines (only for the 2000 flight number series, not for domestic flights) in addition to those in the Oneworld alliance:

In addition to earning points on flights with Finnair and its partner airlines, Finnair Plus members can earn points through various hotel and car rental partners in Finland and around the world along with other service partners.

Cabins[edit]

Business class[edit]

Business class is offered on the entire Airbus-fleet. On long-haul aircraft, the seats are equipped with personal in-flight entertainment. Business Class on all wide-body aircraft feature flat-bed seats.

Premium Economy class[edit]

Finnair will be introducing the new Premium Economy class in 2020. The new cabin class will be featured in both Airbus A330 and Airbus A350 aircraft.^[106]

Economy Comfort class[edit]

Economy Comfort is Finnair's new premium economy product debuting on long haul aircraft December 2014. It will not be a separate class but more of an upgraded economy product, much like Delta's Economy Comfort class. Economy Comfort seats will be located in the first 5 rows of economy providing 34–36" of pitch (3–5" more pitch than standard economy seats) and a comfier headrest, plus noise canceling headphones and a comfort kit. Seats will be free to Finnair Plus and oneworld elites and passengers with a full fare coach ticket, and available to all other customers for a fee.

Economy class[edit]

Finnair lounges[edit]

Finnair operates three own lounges at Helsinki Airport. One is accessible in the Schengen Area by travelers in Finnair's Business Class, Gold and Platinum of the Finnair Plus program members as well as Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members. The two other are located in the non-Schengen area and the Finnair Business Lounge has the same access criteria as the one in the Schengen area except Japan Airlines Business Class passengers also have access. Finnair also operates a Premium Lounge next to the Business lounge in the non-Schengen area that Gold and Platinum of the Finnair Plus program members have access to as well as Oneworld Emerald members have access to. The non-Schengen lounges have a Finnish sauna. The remaining international destinations are served with contract lounges.

Meals and drinks[edit]

On most European flights, coffee, tea, water, milk and blueberry juice are free. Other beverages, including alcoholic ones, and food items are available for purchase. Domestic flights as well as shorter European flights have snacks for sale and free non-alcoholic beverages. Business class offers warm meals and free beverages, including alcohol. On most Intercontinental flights there is a choice of meals in economy class. In inter-continental business class on most Airbus aircraft (excluding those with fully lie-flat seats), there is a dedicated snack bar.^[107] As of November 2014 the complementary salad or sandwich is discontinued and beverages have been limited to coffee, tea, water, milk and blueberry juice on European flights.^[108]

In-flight entertainment[edit]

All Finnair aircraft have LCD video monitors or personal entertainment systems except the Embraer 170s and 190s and the Airbus A321-231 (Sharklet). Airbus A320 series aircraft have monitors showing exterior shots, moving-map systems and mute television programs. Airbus A330 and Airbus A350 aircraft have an AVOD personal entertainment system on all seats with about 72 movies, 150 TV shows, 200 music albums, 24 radio channels, and 15 games.^[109]

In-flight magazine[edit]

Finnair's English-language in-flight magazine, Blue Wings, is published 10 times a year by the Finnish media group Sanoma. The first edition of Blue Wings magazine was published in 1980. There are domestic and international newspapers on all flights and magazines on long-haul flights in business class.

Awards[edit]

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Year	Award	Awarded by	Notes
2009	4-Star Airline	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[110]
2010	Best Airline In Northern Europe		[111][112]
2011
2012
2013	Best Airline In Northern Europe	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[112]
	Best European Airline	TTG China Travel Awards	[113]
	Best International Airline — Off-Line Carrier	AFTA National Travel Industry Awards	[114]
2014	Best Airline In Northern Europe	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[112]
	Best European Airline	TTG China Travel Awards	[113]
2015	Best Airline In Northern Europe	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[112]
2016	Best European Airline	TTG China Travel Awards	[113]
	Best Airline In Northern Europe	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[115]
	Best Airline Business Class	Best Travel Awards	[116]
	Best Inflight Catering Airline	World Traveller Awards	[116]
2017	Best European Airline	TTG China Travel Awards	[117]
	Best Airline In Northern Europe	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[118]
2018	Best European Airline	TTG China Travel Awards	[119]
	Best Airline In Northern Europe	Skytrax World Airline Awards	[120]

Incidents and accidents[edit]

• On 16 November 1927, a Junkers F.13 disappeared en route from Tallinn to Helsinki. The pilot and his two passengers were never found.
• On 10 November 1937, a Junkers Ju 52 en route from Turku to Stockholm suffered the detachment of the nose-engine whilst over the sea. The pilots managed to successfully land the aircraft with no fatalities. A broken propeller blade resulted in a severe imbalance that tore the engine off.
• On 14 June 1940, Ju 52 aircraft Kaleva was shot down by the Soviet Air Force over the Gulf of Finland, apparently as a prelude to the Occupation of Estonia. All 9 people on board perished.
• On 7 June 1941, a Ju 52 aircraft equipped with floats was forced to make an emergency 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 aircraft drowned while attempting to swim to safety.
• On 31 October 1945, a Ju 52 suffered a CFIT on approach to Hyvinkää. Radio signals were distorted by high-tension wires and the pilots let the plane descend too low. All 14 people on board survived, but the aircraft was written off.
• On 3 January 1961, Flight 311 from Kronoby to Vaasa flown by a Douglas DC-3 stalled on final approach and crashed, killing all 25 people on board. The two pilots were both intoxicated by alcohol and sleep deprived. This is Finland's worst aviation accident.
• On 8 November 1963, Flight 217 from Helsinki to Mariehamn via Turku flown by a DC-3 crashed into terrain on final approach to Mariehamn. The sole flight attendant and two passengers were the only survivors of the crash. The cause was believed to have been poor visibility and a malfunctioning altimeter that tricked the pilots into believing they were higher than they really were. 20 passengers and 2 crew were killed. To date, this is Finnair's last fatal accident.
• On 30 September 1978, Flight 405 from Oulu to Helsinki flown by Sud Aviation Caravelle was hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras armed with a pistol (Finland did not perform security checks on domestic flights), who held the 48 other passengers and crew hostage. The plane continued to Helsinki, where 34 of the 44 passengers were released before returning to Oulu where the hijacker received a large ransom from Finnair. The plane then returned to Helsinki for another ransom from a Finnish newspaper before flying to Amsterdam and then back to Helsinki before returning to Oulu. The hijacker released the last hostages and departed the plane before being arrested on October 1 at his home.
• On 23 December 1987, Flight 915 from Tokyo to Helsinki was allegedly shot at by a missile whilst over Svalbard. The missile allegedly exploded in the air before striking the DC-10. The events were not revealed until 2014.^{[citation needed][121]}

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Haapavaara, Heikki (1998). Aika lentää. Finnair 75 [‘Time flies. Finnair 75 years.’]. Finnair. ISBN 951-98041-0-2.

External links[edit]

Media related to Finnair at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Finnair Group official website
• Route Map
• Finnair Facebook page
• Finnair YouTube Channel
• History of Oy Aero Ab