Finnish Commuter Airlines Oy, trading as Finncomm Airlines, was a regional airline with headquarters at Seinäjoki Airport in Ilmajoki, near Seinäjoki Finland. The air carrier operated flights to Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden and 16 destinations within Finland from its base at Helsinki Airport.Flight International 3 April 2007 In those times it was the largest domestic air carrier in Finland in terms of number of flights.“Finncomm Airlines” – Airliner World, July 2009 The airline was a member of the European Regions Airline Association.

The company adopted Flybe Nordic trading name and Flybe Finland operating name from 30 October 2011. It was renamed NORRA-Nordic Regional Airlines on 15 June 2015.

History The beginning In 1993, Juhani Pakari and his father started an air taxi operation flying light aircraft to remote airstrips which other carriers did not serve. Seeking to acquire an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) to begin scheduled flights, Finncomm partnered with Swedish regional airline Golden Air Flyg in 1999 until they could receive their own AOC. Golden Air meda available a fleet of seven Saab 340s and one Saab 2000 and Finnish Commuter Airlines was in full swing.

In September 2003, the young airline received its own AOC and operations began with one Embraer ERJ-145s leased from Swiss International Air Lines. Inaugural services between Helsinki and Stuttgart were followed, with the delivery of a second ERJ-145 in April 2005, by routes to Düsseldorf and Oslo.

At the 2005 Paris Air Show, the airline announced a $250 million contract for eight ATR-42-500 aircraft with options for a further eight. With the arrival of the first ATR-42 in late November 2005, the airline started to retire the Saab fleet inherited from Golden Air. In 2006, at the Farnborough Air Show, Finncomm signed a contract which converted four of their ATR-42 orders to the larger ATR-72-500. This was further supplemented by the purchase of an additional three ATR-72 aircraft at a list price of $54 million. In January 2008 the carrier announced another order for a further five ATR-72-500 aircraft with deliveries between 2009 and 2011. Once all the orders were fulfilled by ATR, Finnish Commuter Airlines became the largest operator of the ATR regional airliners in Europe.

The air carrier employed over 250 staff and, in 2008, flew 870,000 passengers, an increase of 45% over the previous year despite a tough economic climate. Finncomm co-operated with Finnair to provide feeder traffic for Finnair's international route network."Finnair Oyj Investor News Code-share routes for Finnair and Finncomm". Finncomm Airlines, 18 June 2007. The growth allowed an operating profit of over €9.4 million which was a 9.8% increase over 2007. The Finnish Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA) ordered some changes to operating procedures and temporarily increased the weather minimums of ATR operations following an incident in late 2006. The incident was investigated and some re-training for pilots (regarding new operating procedures) was ordered by FCAA. Weather restrictions were lifted and normal operations resumed.

New ownership On 9 September 2010, Finnair Group announced that they had signed a preliminary agreement to acquire all the aircraft from Finnish Commuter Airlines and 20% of its shares for the total sum of €48 million. On 1 July 2011, Finnair and BEA-British European Airways (branded Flybe) announced they were to jointly buy the airline for €25 million. The company was rebranded Flybe Nordic with Flybe Finland operating name. 60% of shares were owned by BEA while Finnair controlled 40%. The fleet was further strengthened with two Embraer E170s which allowed to fly over 70 passenger on longer routes and with speeds higher than ATR turboprops.

Further changes

In November 2014, British European Airways announced that it would sell its 60% stake in the airline for €1 in an effort to reduce group costs. In February 2015, the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority approved the sale of the stake (60%) to StaffPoint Holding and G.W. Sohlberg. The 60% share was sold to Finnair as a temporary solution in March 2015 and the airline operated with Finnair's flight codes from 1 May 2015. Completing the new phase the transition to NORRA-Nordic Regional Airlines name on the following 15 June.

Destinations As of June 2011 Finnish Commuter Airlines operated the following routes:

Estonia Tallinn – Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport Finland Enontekiö – Enontekiö Airport [seasonal] Helsinki – Helsinki Airport base Joensuu – Joensuu Airport Jyväskylä – Jyväskylä Airport Kajaani – Kajaani Airport Kemi/Tornio – Kemi-Tornio Airport Kittilä – Kittilä Airport [seasonal] Kokkola/Jakobstad – Kruunupyy Airport Kuopio – Kuopio Airport Kuusamo – Kuusamo Airport [seasonal] Oulu – Oulu Airport Pori – Pori Airport Savonlinna – Savonlinna Airport Seinäjoki – Seinäjoki Airport Tampere – Tampere-Pirkkala Airport Turku – Turku Airport Vaasa – Vaasa Airport Varkaus – Varkaus Airport Germany Stuttgart – Stuttgart Airport Latvia Riga – Riga Airport Poland Gdańsk – Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport Romania Bucharest – Henri Coandă International Airport Sweden Norrköping – Norrköping Airport Skellefteå – Skellefteå Airport

Fleet

As of 13 May 2011 the fleet included the following aircraft:Finncomm Airlines Destinations

+ Finncomm Airlines fleet AircraftIn fleet Orders Passengers ATR 42-50040 48 ATR 72-500103 68–72 Embraer E17020 76Total162

Finnish Commuter Airlines had announced plans to have 16 ATR42-500 aircraft by the end of 2011, suggesting they planned to convert at least 3 of their options into firm orders.Finncomm fleet

Environment Finnish Commuter Airlines mitigated its environmental impact. The carrier utilised a very modern and fuel efficient fleet of ATRs and Embraers which reduced fuel burn and noise. FThe air carrier commented that the ATR fleet saved 70,000 tonnes of fuel and 200,000 tonnes of in a five-year period over a jet fleet. Furthermore, when aircraft were at an airport overnight, they were placed in heated hangars to reduce the amount of de-icing agent used on the aircraft. 300,000 litres of anti-ice solvents were saved annually.

References

Further reading "Finncomm Airlines", Airliner World monthly magazine, U.K., July 2009

External links

Finncomm Airlines Fleet Finnish aviation authority curbs Finncomm turboprop pilots' rights (2007)

ja:フィンコム航空