info - blue1

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 fully owned subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines. Blue1 is owned one hundred percent by Scandinavian Airlines, 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 Scandinavian Airlines.

In March 2000, the organizations of Blue1 and SAS Finland were brought together under one roof with a joint administration. Sveneric Persson, President and CEO of Blue1 is, at the same time, Vice President, SAS Region North East Europe.

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 May24th, 2004. Blue1 entered the domestic market in April 2004 by opening the line Helsinki - Oulu, followed by Helsinki - Kuopio on May 24th. Blue1 today operates more than 110 flights/day.

Air Botnia became Blue1 on January 1st, 2004. “Blue” signals its Finnish heritage and “1” symbolizes the fastest growing airline in Finland.

In September 2003 Blue1 was presented with the prestigious "Airline of the Year 2003/2004 Bronze Award" by the European Airlines Association ERA.

Fleet: 2 Avro RJ100, 7 Avro RJ85, 5 Saab 2000

Passengers: 1998: 98000, 1999:191000
2000: 400000,2001:451000, 2002:534000, 2003:636000
2004 over 1 million est.

Employees: 1998: 40, 2004: 380

Destinations: Helsinki, Turku, Oulu, Tampere T. Pirkala, Vaasa, Kuopio, Mariehamn
Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen, Brussels, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam.