Flying Finn Ltd ( fi, Flying Finn Oy, sv, Flying Finn Ab) was a

low cost airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

, based at

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. Th ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. It ceased operations in 2004.

History

The airline was established in December 2002 and started operations on 16 March 2003. Its cheap air fares were based on the fact that the e-tickets were only sold through Internet and phone. The airline claimed a successful beginning, as the passengers who formerly bought bus and train tickets now bought cheaper flights. The president of the company was Peter Sevelius. The flight captains had been employed from Finnair. It had many celebrities as shareholders, such as the rally driver

Juha Kankkunen Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which ...

. Its competitors included

Finnair Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings famil ...

and Soder Airlines. In January 2004, faced with the threat of the termination of its plane lease and operating license for unpaid debts, the financially ailing airline cancelled its flights to London and went into

debt restructuring Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continu ...

. On January 27, 2004, Flying Finn ceased all flights and filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

. Over 20,000 passengers were left without refund. In August 2007, there was speculation by

Keskusrikospoliisi The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) ( fi, Keskusrikospoliisi (KRP), sv, Centralkriminalpolisen (CKP), ) is a national law enforcement agency of the Finnish Police and the principal criminal investigation and criminal intelligence organi ...

(the National Bureau of Investigation) that there are financial irregularities due to the airline accounts, leading to seven former employees being accused of breaking bankruptcy laws.

Services

Flying Finn operated daily flights between

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after ...

. It also ran limited services between Helsinki and

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Pe ...

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cu ...

and

London Stansted London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

Fleet

The Flying Finn fleet consisted of 2 leased

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

aircraft which originated from

References

External links

Flying Finn Former Fleet Detail
{{Airlines of Finland 2002 establishments in Finland 2004 disestablishments in Finland Airlines established in 2002 Airlines disestablished in 2004 Defunct airlines of Finland Defunct European low-cost airlines European Low Fares Airline Association Finnish companies established in 2002