44 Facts About Finnair

Finnair is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub.

Finnair is the fifth oldest airline in continuous operation and is consistently listed as one of the safest in the world.

In 1961, Finnair joined the jet age by adding Rolls-Royce Avon-engined Caravelles to its fleet.

Finnair Oy became the company's official name on 25 June 1968.

Until then, flights had to go via Moscow or Anchorage 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 Soviet airspace.

Related searches

However, Finnair did not have to make a roundabout because of the Soviet regulation on this route, but the Japanese authorities demanded it.

Finnair launched a Helsinki-Beijing route in 1988, making Finnair the first Western European carrier to fly non-stop between Europe and China.

In 1989, Finnair became the launch customer for the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, the first of which was delivered on 7 December 1990.

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.

On 8 March 2007, Finnair became the first airline to order the Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, placing an order for 11 Airbus A350 XWB, with delivery started in 2015.

Finnair has suffered from many labour disputes in this period, resulting from cost-cutting measures prompted by competition from budget airlines.

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.

In 2013, Finnair opened its new head office, known as House of Travel and Transportation, 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.

Finnair requires its cabin crew to wear gloves during take-off and landing for safety reasons.

Finnair has several partnerships with following companies and airlines including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Deutsche Bahn, Chinese JD.

In contrast with several other major European airlines, Finnair has developed its main long-haul market not in North America but in Asia, where the airline has around 20 destinations.

Nevertheless, Finnair serves eight North American destinations: five in the United States and one each in Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.

Additionally, Finnair opened a new route to Beijing Daxing on 3 November 2019, while retaining its flights to Beijing Capital.

In 2021, Finnair opened five routes from Stockholm Arlanda to Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, as well as New York-JFK, Miami and Los Angeles in the United States.

Finnair announced a new route to Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport in 2022.

Finnair received its first narrow-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus, the Airbus A321, on 28 January 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.

Related searches

On 8 March 2007, Finnair firmed up its orders for 11 Airbus A350 aircraft with 8 options.

On 3 December 2014, it was announced that Finnair had firmed up the contract for 8 additional Airbus A350 aircraft deliveries starting in 2018.

On 13 August 2014, Finnair announced plans to initially deploy its A350 aircraft on services to Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai from 2015, with A350 services to Hong Kong and Singapore to be added in 2016.

Finnair 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.

Finnair sometimes uses the A350 on the morning AY1331 flight from Helsinki to London–Heathrow to carry extra freight as well.

Finnair took delivery of its first A350 aircraft on 7 October 2015, becoming the third airline to operate the aircraft, after Qatar Airways and Vietnam Airlines.

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.

Finnair has occasionally suffered from aircraft shortages and therefore has resorted to leased and wet-leased aircraft.

For instance, in March 2016, Finnair announced it would lease two Airbus A321 aircraft from Air Berlin for Finnair's European operations.

On 15 December 2016, Finnair announced it would lease two Airbus A321s from CDB Aviation Lease Finance.

Finnair-branded short-haul network includes 24 regional aircraft operated by Nordic Regional Airlines.

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.

Finnair firmed up orders for eight additional A350 aircraft on 3 December 2014.

Finnair has modified its previous fleet plan to retire two of Airbus A330 aircraft, which was established in 2014.

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.

Finnair offers frequent-flyer partnerships with Nordic Regional Airlines in addition to those in the Oneworld alliance:.

In February 2022, Finnair unveiled new long-haul business class seats, alongside with debut of premium economy cabin.

Finnair operates three of its own lounges at Helsinki Airport.