Finnair is the fifth-oldest airline with uninterrupted existence that is still operating, as it has been founded in 1923. Finland’s state carrier is also the second safest airline in the world, second only to Qantas. The oneworld member today owns around 50 aircraft and operates flights to 65 destinations in Europe, Asia and North America.
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Finnair was officially founded by Bruno Otto Lacander as Aero O/Y (Aero Ltd.) on November 1, 1923. The first plane was a Junkers F 13, which was given to the airline together with staff and technical assistance in exchange for a 50 % holding in the airline.
The first flight took place on March 20, 1924, from Tallinn to Helsinki. Soon Stockholm and Turku were added as destinations.
After Lacander’s death in 1929, Finnish investors managed to buy Junkers out, so Aero became an entirely Finnish airline and continued to prosper.
During WWII, Finnair had to give half of its fleet to the Finnish air force. The other half could continue operation only on a very restricted basis.
After the war, the Finnish state acquired around 60 % of the airline, a stake they have kept almost unchanged until today. The plane that continued service from 1947 was the Douglas DC-3.
The Caravelle was Aero’s first jet plane, first used on inner-European routes in 1960. Two years later, a stake in Finnish airline Kar-Air was acquired.
On June 25, 1968, the official airline name became Finnair Oy. The first DC-8 was put into service one year later, in 1969, when the first transatlantic flight (to New York City) was operated as well.
The age of wide-bodied aircraft was entered in 1975 with the McDonnell Douglas DC-10.
Asia was first reached in 1976.
In 1979 Finnaviation was established as Finnair subsidiary, the mother company holding 60 %. The new company was operating domestic services with Embraer Bandeirante aircraft and provided maintenance and repairs.
As the first airline Finnair started non-stop flights from Western Europe to Japan in 1983 (Helsinki – Tokyo). Five years later, Beijing was added to the network, giving the airline another “first”.
Finnair became launch customer for the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, first delivered in 1990.
In 1997, the airline’s official name became Finnair Oyj (Finnair Plc) and both Finnaviation and Kar-Air were fully purchased and integrated into the main company.
In 1999, oneworld alliance was joined, as Scandinavian competitor SAS had been a founding member of Star alliance.
The name Aero was reused in 2001, when a subsidiary called Aero Airlines was founded by Finnair in Tallinn, Estonia, in order to be able to compete on the growing Estonic market. Low-cost carrier Flynordic was purchased two years later, in 2003.
Currently, the Finnish state still owns almost 60 % of the airline; the stock is listed on the Helsinki stock exchange.
The fleet consists of around 50 aircraft with an average age of only 6.2 years in 2006. These planes currently reach destinations in Europe, Asia and Northa America from their main hub in Helsinki-Vantaa.
As there have only been two major accidents in the company’s history, both in the 1960s, the airline is statistically the second safest airline in the world, after Qantas.
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