Tag Archives: Flybe Finland

Flybe Finland to become Nordic Regional Airlines

Flybe Finland (Helsinki) will become Nordic Regional Airlines in May reflecting the recent change in ownership. The name change still requires approval by the Trade Register, which is expected to take place in early May.

According to the airline’s CEO Maunu Visuri, “The new name reflects our company’s core business, i.e. the regional flying. Our goal is to continue to be a high-quality and skilled Nordic airline to offer excellent service to their customers.”

A new look will be unveiled in the early summer and the transformation will be implemented in stages during 2015.

Flybe Finland aircraft slide show:

All images by Flybe Finland.

Finnair acquires Flybe Nordic and Flybe Finland, will introduce Wi-Fi in the fall

Finnair (Helsinki) as planned, has completed its acquisition of Flybe Nordic (Helsinki) and its Flybe Finland (formerly FinnComm Airlines) (Helsinki) airline subsidiary. Finnair issued this statement:

Finnair has acquired Flybe UK Ltd’s 60% ownership of Flybe Nordic for a transaction price of 1 euro, and Flybe Nordic will transfer to Finnair’s ownership on an interim basis. The transaction has been closed on March 31, 2015. Finnair continues discussions about the continued ownership of Flybe Nordic. Finnair and StaffPoint Holding Ltd and G.W. Sohlberg Ltd. signed on January 7, 2015 a Memorandum of Understanding about an arrangement according to which Staffpoint and GWS would own together 60% of Flybe Nordic shares.

“Last November Finnair and Flybe UK decided to discontinue their Flybe Nordic co-operation and agreed, that Flybe UK will sell its 60% ownership in the company to a potential new majority shareholder or Finnair. While the discussions with Staffpoint and GWS still continue, Finnair will now acquire Flybe UK’s share of Flybe Nordic. We hope to sign a new share purchase agreement in the coming months,” says Pekka Vauramo, Finnair CEO.

Flybe Nordic owns fully the Finnish subsidiary Flybe Finland, which operates with a total of 26 ATR and Embraer aircraft a substantial part of Finnair’s domestic and European routes as purchase traffic. Flights operated by Flybe Finland will continue normally.

“Finnair aims to find together with its partners a business model that would enable the development of regional flying in a financially sustainable way. We will take an important step to this direction at the beginning of May, when all routes operated by Flybe Finland at their own commercial risk will become a part of Finnair’s contract flying arrangements, as we have communicated earlier. Flybe Finland has also implemented several internal measures to improve the company’s financial position,” says Vauramo.

The ownership change of Flybe Nordic does not have any immediate impact on Finnair’s result. Finnair continuously monitors the balance sheet valuation related to the Flybe Finland cooperation and will inform about possible financial impacts in more detail in connection with its interim review on 7 May, 2015.

In other news, Finnair has announced it will introduce its first onboard Wi-Fi service in autumn 2015.

Finnair Board of Directors has approved an investment program for bringing Wi-Fi connectivity to the majority of Finnair’s wide-body and narrow-body fleet. The total value of the investment is approximately 30 MEUR.

Finnair will introduce its first onboard Wi-Fi service in autumn 2015, with the arrival of the first Finnair A350 XWB aircraft. In 2016, the company will start Wi-Fi installations in Finnair’s Airbus A330 long-haul aircraft as well as its European short-haul Airbus fleet. Installations are expected to be completed by 2018.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

Copyright Photo: OSDU/AirlinersGallery.com. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATL (msn 851) of Flybe Finland lands at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Finnair to open a new route to Gdansk, Poland

Finnair (Helsinki) on May 11 will open a new daily service to Gdansk, Poland.

The service will be sold with Finnair’s flight number, and it will be operated by Flybe Finland (Helsinki) with ATR 72 aircraft.

In addition to Gdansk, in Poland, Finnair flies daily to Warsaw year-round and to Krakow from April 2 until October 22, 2015.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATG (msn 757) sits on the Helsinki (HEL) ramp.

Finnair aircraft slide show:

Flybe Finland to fly under the Finnair code starting on May 1

Finnair (Helsinki) as we previously reported, is now a part owner of Flybe Finland. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority approved the transaction in which Flybe UK Ltd’s 60% ownership of Flybe Nordic venture was transferred to StaffPoint Holding Ltd and G.W. Sohlberg Ltd (GWS) . The letter of intent on this transaction was announced on January 7, 2015. StaffPoint’s ownership in the joint venture is now 45%, GWS’s 15% and Finnair’s 40%.

Flybe Nordic owns fully the Finnish subsidiary Flybe Finland, which is in charge of Finnair’s regional airline operations. Flybe Finland currently operates to a number of domestic and European destinations from Helsinki on behalf of Finnair on a contract-flying basis. In addition, Flybe Finland operates to five domestic destinations as well as Tartu, Estonia and Norrköping, Sweden at its own commercial risk.

As a result, Finnair now has issued this statement:

Starting May 1 all routes operated by Flybe Finland (Helsinki) at their own commercial risk will become a part of Finnair’s contract flying arrangements, and the flights will carry a Finnair (AY) flight designator instead of Flybe’s (BE) code. The routes are between Helsinki and the following destinations:

Jyväskylä
Kajaani
Kemi-Tornio
Kokkola-Pietarsaari
Mariehamn
Norrköping
Tartu
Visby

Finnair sells tickets to these routes starting on March 10, 2015. Tickets can also be purchased from Flybe Finland until April 30, 2015.

The change to Finnair’s flight numbers may cause some changes to the schedules of Flybe Finland flights that have already been booked and which depart on 1 May 1, 2015 and onward.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Flybe Finland’s ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATG (msn 757) sits on the ramp at the Helsinki (HEL) base.

The sale of Flybe Nordic’s 60% share formerly held by Flybe is approved

Finnair (Helsinki) has announced the sale of Flybe’s (Exeter) 60% share in Flybe Nordic has been approved. The airline issued this statement:

The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has approved the transaction in which Flybe UK Ltd’s 60% ownership of Flybe Nordic venture will be transferred to StaffPoint Holding Ltd and G.W. Sohlberg Ltd (GWS) . The letter of intent on this transaction was announced on January 7, 2015. Upon completion of the sale, StaffPoint’s ownership in the joint venture will be 45%, GWS’s 15% and Finnair’s 40%. The transaction is expected to be closed in early February 2015.

Will the Flybe Finland brand now be changed to a new name? Flybe Finland was formerly FinnComm Airlines.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Flybe Finland’s ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) OH-ATG (msn 757) sits on the ramp at the Helsinki (HEL) base.

Video: A time lapse full flight window view of a flight from Edinburgh to Birmingham, onboard Flybe Embraer ERJ 175 G-FBJE, operating flight BE 852 on October 31, 2014.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raladAJ-RT4&w=560&h=315%5D

Flybe reshapes its operating network, sells its Flybe Finland operation for €1

Flybe (Exter) is making a lot of moves to streamline its operations under its new CEO Saad Hammed.

The company has announced that it will open a new base at Bournemouth Airport from March 29, 2015. Two 78-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft will be deployed to meet demand for key routes to and from Bournemouth. The airline’s Summer 2015 schedule will start with a new year-round, double daily service between Bournemouth and Glasgow.

In addition Flybe will, from May 2015, operate a number of additional new routes to include Amsterdam, Manchester, Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Jersey, Dublin, Deauville (Normandy) Toulon and Biarritz.

The airline also announced it will re-open its base at Aberdeen Airport effective from the start of next year’s Summer season on March 29, 2015.

Four 78-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft will be based at the airport to service and meet demand for key routes to and from Aberdeen that include those to London (City), Manchester and the Flybe Shuttle.

The news of the base re-opening comes on the back of Flybe last month starting double-daily flights to and from London City Airport, and its innovative three times a day Flybe Shuttle service to Jersey via Leeds/Bradford and Southampton.

Flybe will also start operations at London Stansted Airport from March 15, 2015. This will feature year-round services to the Isle of Man (up to three flights a day) and double daily flights to Newcastle, together with seasonal summer flights to Newquay.

Previously on October 26 the airlines started its winter schedule with up to 2,787 flights a week.

New routes for winter are: Aberdeen to Leeds/Bradford, Birmingham to Oslo and Berlin (Tegel) (and also the first winter for popular summer routes to Cologne, Lyon, Toulouse, Florence and Porto), Dublin to Inverness, Manchester to Amsterdam and the return of the daily Exeter to Newcastle service.

Finally to make way for this expansion, Flybe has sold its loss-making Flybe Finland operation for €1 to Finnair. Flybe, struggling to return to profitability, has also cancelled an order of 20 new aircraft.

Flybe Finland started operations on October 30, 2011.

Read the full report by The Telegraph: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Flybe’s Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) G-JEDV (msn 4090) is seen at Southampton.

Flybe aircraft slide show:

Flybe Finland cities:

Flybe Finland to operate a new Helsinki-Tromsø route for Finnair

Finnair (Helsinki) will open a new route to Tromsø, Norway for the 2014 winter season. The Arctic city in the far north of Norway will be served from Helsinki three times per week from January 1, 2014 until March 28, 2014.

Situated directly under the aurora zone in the Arctic, Tromsø is ideally placed for viewing the spectacular Aurora Borealis (northern lights) on clear winter nights. The town is made up of 70,000 people and also serves as a base for winter sports such as downhill skiing, snowshoeing, dog and reindeer sledding, and glacier hiking. Tromsø, or Romsa in Sami languages, is also a center of Sami culture in the Norwegian Lapland and hosts Sami Week every February.

Due to the warming effect of the Gulfstream, from January to March the city is relatively warm for the Arctic, with average highs of around -2 degrees centigrade and lows of about -6.

Flights are scheduled Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for departure from Helsinki (AY2679) at 8:15 pm (2015) and departure from Tromsø (AY2680) at 9:55 pm (2155) local time. The route, operated on behalf of Finnair by Flybe Finland (formerly Flybe Nordic and Finncomm Airlines) with Embraer ERJ 190 aircraft, takes approximately two hours.

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. The 12 Finnair Embraer ERJ 190-100LRs are now operated for Finnair in Finnair colors by subsidiary Flybe Finland. OH-LKP (msn 19000416) taxies at Zurich.

Finnair:

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