FINNAIR'S LONG-HAUL EXPANSION HAS A LONG HISTORY

Finnair is one of world's oldest continually operating airlines. The company was founded on 1 November 1923. In recent years, a key part of Finnair's strategy has been strengthening the company's position in the Asian market and particularly in traffic between Europe and Asia. The long-haul expansion is nothing new, however.

In Finnair, long-haul expansion, this time to the United States, was first talked about in the 1930s, in the company's early years. The expansion had to wait, however, as plans were put on hold after the outbreak of the Second World War.

Finnair flights from Helsinki via Copenhagen and Amsterdam to New York began on 15 May 1969. The new long-haul route was made possible by revolutionary navigation systems. Finnair flew to New York with DC-8 aircraft, which held nearly 200 passengers.

On blue and white wings to Asia

The long-haul expansion meant that the company needed to acquire a wide-bodied fleet. In 1975 Finnair received its first wide-bodied aircraft, DC-10s, which carried nearly 300 passengers.

Finnair's Far Eastern expansion began with the start of the company's direct flights to Bangkok in November 1976. On 22 April 1983 Finnair opened non-stop flights from Helsinki to Tokyo, the only European airline to offer such a service at that time. As the company was not allowed to fly through Soviet airspace, Finnair had the idea of fitting the DC-10 aircraft with extra fuel tanks, which made the 13-hour flights possible.

Direct flights to Beijing began on 2 June 1988, making Finnair the first Western European airline to have a non-stop route between Europe and China. Finnair did not withdraw from the Chinese market after the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989, even though many other airlines did so.

Finnair Plc today

Today, Finnair's position in traffic between Europe and Asia is well established and growing strongly. In its Asian expansion, the company is supported in particular by Finland's favourable geographical position: the shortest routes from Europe to the Far East pass through Helsinki.

Finnair is currently operating scheduled flights to 11 long-haul destinations: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in Japan; Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong in China; Bangkok in Thailand; Delhi and Mumbai in India; and New York in the United States. Next summer the company will open its eleventh long-haul route, to Seoul in South Korea. The long-haul fleet currently consists of ten wide-bodied aircraft.

The Finnair Group's fields of business are scheduled passenger and leisure flight operations, technical services and ground handling, as well as catering operations, the travel agency sector and travel sector information and reservation services. Finnair Group has around 9,500 employees. Subsidiaries operate in sectors that support flight operations or are closely related to it.

Finnair Plc has around 7,000 shareholders. The Finnish State owns 55.8 per cent of the shares. Around 20 per cent of the company is in foreign ownership.