Star Alliance Regional Member Airline

Blue1 was founded as Air Botnia in 1988. At that time, the company´s main business idea was commercial air transportation of passengers in the Finnish domestic market to and from Helsinki.

On January 20th, 1998, the Finnish airline Air Botnia became a member of SAS Group. Blue1 is owned one hundred percent by SAS, though operating under its own Finnish AOC (Airline Operator Certificate, nbr 007).

In March 1999 the company’s network strategy was changed. From being purely a production carrier in the domestic market, the airline was developed into a regional carrier, feeding traffic from points in Southern and Western Finland to the Scandinavian Airline hubs Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Since June 7th, 1999, all Blue1 flights have been code-shared with SAS. In March 2000, the organisations of Blue1 and SAS Finland were brought together under one roof with a joint administration. The CEO of Blue1 is Mr. Stefan Wentjärvi.

IATA-membership was obtained in May 2000. In 2001 the entire fleet was renewed: from six Fokker F28 and five Saab 340A to five Avro RJ85 and five Saab 2000 in less than a year. In 2003 four new Avro RJ-aircraft were added to the fleet. JAR-145 approval for maintenance of Avro was received in 2001 and of Saab in 2002.

In 2002, the first European route Helsinki-Brussels was opened, later followed by Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam on May 24th, 2004. In 2003 and as well as 2006, the company was presented with the prestigious "Airline of the Year Bronze Award " by the European Airlines Association ERA.

Air Botnia became Blue1 on January 1st, 2004. “Blue” signals its Finnish heritage and “1” symbolizes the fastest growing airline in Finland. In April 2004 Blue1 entered the domestic market by opening the line Helsinki - Oulu, followed by Helsinki - Kuopio on May 24th. Blue1 now operates 120 flights a day.

Blue1 became the first ever regional member of Star Alliance on October 31 2004. In 2004, Blue1 was also the first Finnish airline to be IOSA certified by IATA.

2005 the Blue1 expansion of Finnish domestic service continued with routes from Helsinki to Vaasa and to Rovaniemi.  In 2005 Blue1 was the first Finnish airline to introduce one-way fares on all routes.

During 2006, Blue1 phased in three MD-90 aircraft, while phasing out SAAB 2000s from its fleet. Opening 11 new non-stop routes from Helsinki to European destinations set off a major increase in traffic. In 2006, the business concept "Smart Travel" was introduced, featuring a basic product at central airports, a network that enables transfers and supplementary services that provide good value.

In 2007, Blue1 launched a new concept for business travellers, Economy Extra both on Scandinavian and European routes. All customers were offered the possibility of CO2 offsetting on their Blue1 flight. The domestic route to Finnish Lappland destination Kittilä was introduced in 2006 and was continued during peak season 2007-08. Late 2007 an additional fourth MD-90 was introduced to Blue1 fleet.

The Economy Extra introduction on all domestic routes in February 2008.

• Fleet:  1 Avro RJ100, 5 Avro RJ85, 4 MD-90
• Passengers: 1998: 98000 - 2007: 1.798 million
• Employees: 600 (2007)
• Destinations: Helsinki, Turku, Oulu, Tampere, Vaasa, Kuopio, Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Athens, Barcelona, London, Paris, Milan, Zürich, Warzaw, Rome.