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The story
Founding
In 1923, consul Bruno Lucander founded Finnair as Aero O/Y (Aero Ltd). The company code, "AY", stands for Aero Osake-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 1936 following the construction of the first aerodromes in Finland.
World War II
Air raids on Helsinki and other Finnish cities made World War II a difficult period for the airline. Half of 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
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. It began branding as Finnair in 1953, though the legal name remained Aero O/Y.
Jet Age (1960s and 1970s)
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. In the 1960s, Finnair's head office was in Helsinki.
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 City, later between Helsinki and Las Palmas.
Finnair created Finnaviation in June 1979. It was formed from the reorganisation of Wihuri Oy Finnwings (which had started services in 1950 as Lentohuolto Oy) and its merger with Oy Nordair Ab. Scheduled domestic services began in October 1979. In the early 1980s, Finnair held a 60% shareholding. In September 1996, Finnaviation was completely merged into Finnair.
Expansion (1980s)
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 modified McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER in April 1983. Until then, flights had to go via Moscow (Aeroflot, SAS, BA) or Anchorage (most carriers) 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. However, Finnair did not have to make a roundabout because of the Soviet regulation on this route, but the Japanese authorities demanded it (as JAL requested strongly). The aircraft was fitted with extra fuel tanks, taking 13 hours for the trip. The routes through Soviet airspace and with a stopover in Moscow also took 13 hours, but flights with a stopover in 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.
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. The first revenue service with the MD-11 took place on 20 December 1990, with OH-LGA operating a flight from Helsinki to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
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Subsidiary airlines (1990s–2000s)
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.
In 2006, Finnair ordered 11 Airbus A350 aircraft including an additional 8 options, with deliveries starting in 2015.
Labour disputes and restructuring (2006–present)
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.
As of 2022, it transported about 2.9 million passengers, a substantial decrease from 2019 as COVID-19 pandemic shut down airports and airlines due to travel restrictions. At the end of 2022, the airline employed 5,325 people on average. From 2022 onwards, the Russian airspace closure resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced Finnair to suspend some services to Asia.
In March 2023, Finnair announced it would terminate domestic flights from both Tampere and Turku to Helsinki in favour of coach service due to low demand and the short distance.
From Wikipedia’s article on Finnair, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5