Blue1
IATA
KF		 ICAO
BLF		 Callsign
BLUEFINN
Founded 1987
Hubs Vantaa Airport
Focus cities Arlanda Airport
Frequent-flyer program EuroBonus
Airport lounge Scandinavian Lounge
Alliance Star Alliance
Fleet size 15
Destinations 22
Parent company SAS Group (Finland)
Headquarters Vantaa, Finland
Key people Stefan Wentjärvi (CEO)
Mats Jansson (CEO SAS Group)
Website www.blue1.fi
Blue1 head office
A Blue1 Boeing 717 at Berlin Tegel Airport, painted in the current livery (2011).

Blue1 Ltd (Finnish: Blue1 Oy)[1] is a Finnish airline owned by SAS Group, with a hub at Copenhagen Airport (from 26 March) . Blue1 flies to around 20 destinations in Finland, Scandinavia and rest of Europe. It carried over 1.4 million passengers in 2009.[2] The airline is a member of Star Alliance and has its head office is in Vantaa.[3][4][5]

Contents

History [link]

The airline was established in 1987 and started operations in 1988 as Air Botnia, flying Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes on night cargo flights and on passenger services from Helsinki to Kauhajoki and Seinäjoki.[6] It started to supplement its unpressurised Bandeirantes with leased British Aerospace Jetstream 31s in 1993, but cash flow problems in the summer of 1995 caused British Aerospace to repossess the Jetstreams and brought Air Botnia to the point of bankruptcy, with last minute negotiations needed to save the airline, which continued operations in a reduced scale.[7]

The airline was purchased by SAS Group in January 1998, with the new owners re-equipping the airline, replacing its Jetstreams with Saab 340s later that year, and receiving its first jets, Fokker F28 Fellowships in 1999. The elderly F28s were soon replaced as their high noise levels restricted operations, with Avro RJ85s being received in 2001, with its Saab 340s being replaced by larger Saab 2000s at the same time.[8]

Air Botnia was renamed Blue1 in January 2004,[9] and joined Star Alliance as the first regional member on 3 November 2004. Blue1 became a full member of Star Alliance on 1 January 2010.

In 2005 Blue1 became the second largest Finnish airline with more than 100 daily flights and biggest operator between Finland and Scandinavia.

In 2006 Blue1 started 10 new nonstop routes to Europe increasing its total capacity by more than 50%.

In 2008 Blue1 moved its London operations from Stansted to Heathrow Airport, and undertook strong expansion on domestic business routes. In 2009 new routes to Lapland, including Paris-Kittilä were opened for the winter season and routes to Biarritz, Dubrovnik and Split for summer travel.

Blue1 was the first network airline in Northern Europe to be granted ISO 14001 environmental certificate.[10]

On 26 March 2012, Blue1 changed hub from Helsinki-Vantaa to Copenhagen Airport. Although Helsinki-Vantaa is still the largest airport to operate from.

Destinations [link]

Main article: Blue1 destinations

Codeshare agreements [link]

Question book-new.svg This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Blue1 has codeshare agreements with the following Star Alliance airlines as of October 2010.

Fleet [link]

Current fleet [link]

A Blue1 Avro RJ85 parked at Turku Airport (date unknown).

As of January 2012[11], the Blue1 fleet consists of the following aircraft, with an average age of 11.4 years[12]:

Blue1 fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
E Y Total
ATR 72-200
1
0
 0 72 72 Operated by Golden Air.
ATR 72-500
3
0
 0 74 74 Operated by Golden Air.
Boeing 717
9
0
 var. 115
Saab 2000
2
0
 0 47 47 Operated by Golden Air.
Total 15 0

Retired fleet [link]

A Blue1 McDonnell Douglas MD-90 approaching London Heathrow Airport (2008).
Blue1 retired fleet
Aircraft type Years active
McDonnell Douglas MD-90 2006–2011
Avro RJ100 2001–2009
Saab 2000 2001–2006
Fokker F28 1998–2001
Saab 340 1998–2001
Jetstream 31 1993–1998
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante 1987–1993
Cessna 402 1987–1988

Onboard services [link]

In the cockpit of an Avro RJ

Blue1 offers two service classes, Economy and Premium, featuring all business class services at a significantly lower fare.[13]

  • Economy Class: Coffee and tea are included on all Blue1 operated flights. Sandwiches and other drinks are available for purchase from "Cafe1".[14] Flights with very short flight time may have reduced service.
  • Blue1 Premium: Fast Track security and Business Class check-in is included where available. A cold meal is served on flights to Finnish domestic and Scandinavian destinations, whereas a hot meal is included when traveling to destinations in Continental Europe.

When flying Blue1 Premium Class, lounge access is automatically included when traveling to or from Continental Europe, but not on domestic flights or flights to or from Scandinavia (apart from some higher booking classes, that always include lounge service).

References [link]

  1. ^ "Blue1 Oy". Business Information System. Helsinki: The National Board of Patents and Registration and the Tax Administration, Finland. https://www.ytj.fi/english/yritystiedot.aspx?yavain=567170&kielikoodi=3&tarkiste=13AC6C96F691D0546892F0FB1F0F872A64055606&path=1704;1736;2052. Retrieved 10 February 2011. 
  2. ^ https://www.blue1.com/en/fi/About-us/Press-room/Press-releases/14-million-passengers--flew-with-Blue1-in-2009/
  3. ^ "Blue1 - Star Alliance". Star Alliance. https://www.staralliance.com/en/about/airlines/blue1_airlines/. Retrieved 15 January 2012. 
  4. ^ "Blue1 Head office." blue1. Retrieved on 6 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Privacy Policy." Blue1. Retrieved on 25 February 2010. "or by visiting Rahtitie 3, 01530 Vantaa in person, where also the description of the data file is available for review."
  6. ^ Pagiola 2004, p. 42.
  7. ^ Pagliola 2004, pp. 42–43.
  8. ^ Pagiola 2004, p. 44.
  9. ^ Pagliola 2004, p. 45.
  10. ^ Flight International 27 March 2007
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ "Blue1 Premium". blue1.com. https://www.blue1premium.com/#/premium. Retrieved September 16, 2011. 
  14. ^ "Mmmmmmm Mmmmmenu" (pdf). blue1.com. autumn 2011. https://www.blue1.com/Tiedostot/Palvelut/Cafe1MenuAutumn2011.pdf. Retrieved September 13, 2011. 
  • Pagiola, Stefano. "Stars In Their Eyes: Finland's Blue 1 Regional Airline". Air International, Vol 67 No 4. pp. 42–45.

External links [link]

Portal icon Finland portal
Portal icon Companies portal
Portal icon Aviation portal

Media related to Blue1 at Wikimedia Commons

Airlines of Finland
Current
Flag of Finland
Defunct

https://wn.com/Blue1

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