Finnair agrees to buy 20% of Finncomm Airlines, expands code-share agreement

September 10, 2010 — ATR, ATR 72, ATR 72-212A, ATR 72-500, F-WWEB, Finnair, Finncomm Airlines, OH-ATE, TLS, Toulouse

Finnair (Helsinki) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Finncomm Oy to buy 20% of Finncomm Airlines (Finnish Commuter Airlines Oy) (FCA) (Helsinki) and all of the stock of the companies that own Finncomm’s 12 ATR aircraft.

Finnair and Finncomm Airlines have also entered into a new commercial agreement for further cooperation on the winter schedule.

According to the Finnair press release, under the new code-share agreement with Finnair, Finncomm will fly the Turku, Tampere and Tallinn flights (as it has to date) and will also fly as a new service the Jyväskylä route, six times per day. Also on the Joensuu, Kuopio and Vaasa routes, Finncomm will fly some of the code-share flights. In addition, cooperation will cover the Norrköping route.

Finncomm Airlines’ route network also includes Kokkola, Kemi, Seinäjoki, Savonlinna and Varkaus.

The new commercial agreement replaces the previously announced agreement between Finnair and the airline Flybe on the arrangement of feeder traffic. Nevertheless, negotiations on cooperation with Flybe in other traffic will
continue.

At the same time, Finnair and Finncomm have signed a preliminary agreement on ownership arrangements through which Finncomm’s current ownership structure will change. Finnair’s objective is to acquire a minority shareholding in the Finncomm Group. A strengthening of the ownership structure through new investors will also be pursued.

Copyright Photo: It will be interesting to see if Finncomm will lose its individual brand and adopt the colors of Finnair. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) F-WWEB (msn 741) arrives back at Toulouse after a test flight in the 2003 livery. It became OH-ATE on delivery.

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