The largest air carrier in Finland, operating both domestic and international flights. The company was founded in 1923 when it was called Aero O/Y. The first flight was made on March 20, 1924, from Helsinki to Tallinn. Thus, Finnair is one of the oldest airlines in Europe (the oldest of the existing ones is the Dutch KLM). It is also ranked among the most reliable (since 1963 there has not been a single crash, and an attempt to hijack an aircraft, undertaken in the early 80s, was without casualties).
The company's first aircraft was a German Junkers F13 seaplane provided by Junkers & Co (then Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG), in exchange for 50% shares of the new company.
The period spanning the Winter War and World War II proved to be extremely difficult for the company. Especially against the background of the fact that half of its aircraft fleet was requisitioned by the Finnish government for military operations.
In 1946, the country's government buys out a controlling stake Aero O/Y, gradually bringing the company to the level of the largest in the country. By the end of 1947, flights were already carried out to almost all European countries. In 1951, the name was first used Finnair, which was finally assigned to the company on June 25, 1968.
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| 1952 (photo from the company's official website) |
The "jet era" began for Finnair in 1951, when its fleet was replenished with the SE-210 Caravelle aircraft, manufactured by the French Sud Aviation, powered by Rolls-Royce Avon engines. And on May 15, 1969, the first transatlantic flight to New York was made. In 1991 Finnair became the first company to start operating direct flights from Europe to Tokyo, via Siberia.
To this day, a controlling stake in Finnair (since 1997, its full name looks like Finnair Oyj) is owned by the Finnish government. The company's base airport is Helsinki-Vantaa. Aircraft are the backbone of the fleet. Aerobus, but there are also Boeing и Embraer. Finnair owns controlling stakes in Finnish air carriers Kar Air и Finnaviation.
At the end of 2010 the company started rebranding, which aims to become the largest airline in Northern Europe by 2020. The main focus is on flights between Europe and Asia.
