Cheap Flights on Finnair. Book online Finnair fares.
Finnair Travel/Flight Information
Cheap Flights on Finnair. Book online Finnair fares.
Finnair, the national flag carrier of Finland, is the market leader in flights to and from Finland and offers many great value air fares for flights around the world.
The airline is one of the world's oldest continually operating carriers and has a long and illustrious service history, dating back to its foundation in 1923.
Finnair was founded on November 1st of that year as Aero, a privately owned company.
Its first aircraft, a German made Junkers F.13, flew from Helsinki to Tallinn in March 1924.
For the first few years of its existence the airline mostly operated float planes or flying boats, taking off and landing from Helsinki harbour.
But following the construction of several airports - or aerodromes as they were known - in the Scandinavian country during the 1930s, Aero converted to conventional, wheeled aircraft.
The airline grew rapidly and was laying plans to start long-haul flights to the US in the late 1930s but the launch of the new routes had to be postponed until after the second world war.
During the war, many of the airline's planes were requisitioned by the air force.
Even those that were not directly involved in the armed forces played their part in the war effort, helping to fly one and a half thousand evacuated children to safety in Sweden.
After the war, the Finnish government acquired a majority stake in the airline and changed its name to Finnair.
The renamed company was able to take advantage of the massive leaps in aviation technology, one example of which was the new British-invented system called radar, and finally realise its ambition of flying across the Atlantic.
The airline began operating regular flights to New York via Copenhagen and Amsterdam from 1969 onwards.
Continuing to expand rapidly, Finnair soon found that the DC-8 aircraft it was operating were not big enough to carry the ever increasing numbers of passengers.
In 1975 the airline received its first wide-bodied aircraft, the DC-10, which carried nearly 300 passengers.
Soon afterwards Finnair began expanding in the Far East, launching its first flight to Bangkok in 1976.
In 1983 the company became the first European airline to offer a non-stop flight to Tokyo, which was no mean feat as the Soviet Union, possibly still smarting from the Finnish victory in the second world war, had banned the company from operating in its airspace.
To get to Tokyo Finnair's DC-10s had to be fitted with special fuel tanks which made the 13-hour flight possible.
The airline also became the first in Europe to launch direct flights to China in June 1988 and it continues to take advantage of Helsinki's advantageous position on the North Eastern edge of the continent to operate many Asia-bound services to this day.
Today Finnair carries nearly eight million passengers a year and flies to a diverse selection of long-haul destinations, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Delhi.
Finnair has plans to launch a long-haul route to Seoul in South Korea next year.
The airline has also won awards for its short-haul services, thanks to the high quality of in-flight meals, drinks and entertainment programmes, the friendliness of its crew, conditions onboard and its safety and punctuality.
Finnair enjoys a reputation as one of the most punctual flight operators in the industry and was Europe's most punctual airline in 2004, as well as being ranked top for business class on European routes.
The company has more than 69 aircraft, including MD-11s, Boeing 757s and Airbus A321, A320 and A319 models.
It is currently in the process of replacing the MD-11 long-haul fleet with Airbus A340 and A350 models which have a kerosene consumption that is almost 30 per cent lower than the older aircraft as well as lower levels of emissions.
The new models, when fully introduced, will make one of Europe's oldest airline fleets one of the most modern in 21st century Europe.
However much Finnair has grown and changed since its founding as Aero, it continues to maintain the principals and values first established in the first golden age of air travel - safety, reliability, freshness and above all, Finnishness.
If you want the very cheapest airfares that Finnair can offer, be sure to book through Major Travel.
Cheap Flights on Finnair. Book online Finnair fares.
Last updated: July 22, 2009
