Finnair

Finnair was founded on November 1, 1923, by Bruno Lucander, under the name Aero O/Y. That makes it one of the oldest airlines still in continuous operation. Its first flight, in March 1924, carried mail and passengers from Helsinki to Tallinn. The aircraft was a Junkers F.13 fitted with floats. Finland had almost no airfields, so seaplanes served the airline until the late 1930s.

Aero came through the war years and rebuilding. It took the Finnair name in the 1950s and made it official in 1968. Caravelle jets carried it into the jet age. In 1983 it opened the first nonstop flight from Western Europe to Tokyo, using the short northern path from Helsinki. Finnair also has one of the best safety records anywhere, with no deadly crash since the 1960s.

Helsinki sits on the shortest line between Europe and East Asia. So Finnair built quick connections to Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and beyond. In 1999 it joined the oneworld alliance, a group of airlines that link their networks. Closed Russian airspace in 2022 broke that model and added hours to Asian flights. Finnair moved planes to North America, India, and the Middle East, and even flew for Qatar Airways.

Finnair flies around 80 aircraft, and the main fleet is all Airbus. Long routes use A350-900s, which Finnair was the first European airline to fly, back in 2015. A330-300s work alongside them, refitted with the praised AirLounge business seat, which does not recline.

Shorter routes use A319s, A320s, and A321s, helped by Embraer 190s and ATR 72 turboprops from Nordic Regional Airlines. Since Russian airspace closed, Finnair has grown slowly.

It puts money into new cabins on its bigger jets instead of large orders. More A350s are still planned.