On January 6th, 2008 Finnair’s propeller aircraft era will end as the ATR-72-201 aircraft, which have been operating under Finnair’s Estonian subsidiary Aero livery, are transferred to new owners.
Finnair was the first airline to begin operating ATR-72 aircraft. The first ATR-72 was delivered to the company in October 1989. Aero flew its first ATR-72 flight on 31 March 2002 on the Helsinki-Tallinn route. The nine aircraft were gradually transferred to Aero, and in 2004 the ATRs were registered in Estonia. The aircraft have been in the ownership of Finnair Aircraft Finance the entire time.
In the future Finnair’s and Aero’s customers in traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn will be served by Finnair’s cooperation partner Finncomm Airlines with its own, modern ATR aircraft. The flights will have Finnair flight numbers and the schedules will remain unchanged.