Nordic Regional Airlines Oy (abbreviated as Norra and often stylised as N°RRA, previously ''Flybe Nordic'') is a Finnish regional airline based on the grounds of Helsinki Airport. Norra is owned as a joint venture by

Finnair Finnair Plc (, ) is the flag carrier and largest full-service legacy airline of Finland, with headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its airline hub, hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

, Finland's flag carrier, and Danish Air Transport. The airline began operations as Flybe Nordic on 20 October 2011 as a joint venture between Flybe and Finnair, following their acquisition of Finncomm Airlines. Flybe sold its 60% to Finnair as a temporary solution at a price of one euro (€1) in March 2015, which was sold three years later to Danish Air Transport. The airline has operated under Finnair's flight code since 1 May 2015. The company's head office and operations centre is located in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, while the office in Seinäjoki houses the company's financial division.

History

The creation of the airline was announced on 1 July 2011, when Flybe and Finnair revealed plans to jointly purchase Finncomm Airlines (FCA) and rebrand the airline Flybe Nordic, with Flybe and Finnair each holding a stake in the new airline. Under the terms of the agreement, the purchase price of Finncomm was €25 million, of which Flybe would pay €12 million and Finnair €13 million. Flybe has a majority stake in Flybe Nordic, holding a 60% stake in the airline, with Finnair holding the remaining 40%; Flybe has three seats on the airline's board of directors with Finnair having the other two. Flybe planned to invest a total of €23.6 million into the new airline, including expenses such as loan repayments in addition to the purchase price of FCA. At the time of the announcement of Flybe Nordic's creation, Flybe planned to begin operating the new airline on 1 August 2011, with the FCA name being phased out, though the start date was later pushed back to 30 October. A new route network was also planned to be announced in mid August. In November 2014, Flybe announced that it would sell its 60% stake in the airline for €1 in an effort to reduce group costs. In February 2015, the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority approved the sale of its stake (60%) to StaffPoint Holding and G.W. Sohlberg. Flybe sold its share to Finnair as a temporary solution in March 2015. The airline has operated under Finnair's flight code since 1 May 2015, the day Flybe Nordic was rebranded as Nordic Regional Airlines.

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

As of November 2014, the airline has codeshare agreements with the following airlines: *

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

Etihad Airways Etihad Airways is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Zayed International Airport. The airline commenced operations in November 2003, and ...

* KLM

Fleet

Current fleet

, Nordic Regional Airlines's fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Historic fleet

Subsidiaries

Flybe Finland Ground

In April 2013, it was announced that Flybe Finland Ground will be established to provide ground services to Flybe operations in Finland. This business will initially focus on Helsinki Airport where it will develop services to support Flybe's own operations. In the future, Flybe Finland Ground will also offer ground services to other airlines in Finland and overseas.

Flybe Finland Maintenance

The former Finnish Aircraft Maintenance has operated as Flybe Finland Maintenance since April 2013. It provides maintenance services for regional aircraft, in particular ATR 72 aircraft at Helsinki Airport.

References

External links

Official website
{{oneworld Airlines of Finland Airlines established in 2011 Finnair Oneworld affiliate members Finnish companies established in 2011