Finnair

You recognize Finnair not by color but by calm: lots of white, blue titles, a blue logo on the tail. Precisely because the livery is so understated, a second look is worthwhile – behind the plain appearance are over a hundred years of history, Europe’s first A350 and a fleet whose registrations are sorted as neatly as at hardly any other airline. This page shows you how to identify Finnair reliably and which types are especially worth it.

Finnair at a glance

Finnair is Finland’s network airline, headquartered in Vantaa, right on the grounds of its hub Helsinki. It was founded on November 1, 1923, under the name Aero. The first scheduled flight took place in 1924: a Junkers F 13 on floats carried mail from Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn. That makes Finnair one of the oldest airlines in the world that has flown without interruption to this day.

The company used the name “Finnair” in marketing from 1953; it became official only in 1968 – together with a new logo. The old name lives on in the IATA code AY, which goes back to Aero.

The business model is classic: feeder flights from all over Europe land in Helsinki, and from there it continues to Asia, North America and the Middle East. By its own account, Finnair serves more than 100 destinations. The airline has been a member of oneworld since September 1999 – unlike Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian, which belong to Star Alliance. The majority owner of the publicly listed company is the Finnish state.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code AY: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board, on the ticket and in timetables.
• ICAO code FIN: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign FINNAIR: how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The IATA code AY is a nice example of how airline codes are often older than the current brand name. If you want to keep flight number and callsign apart, the article on callsign and flight number has the basics, and the system behind the codes is explained in IATA and ICAO codes.

The fleet: almost all Airbus

For years Finnair has relied almost exclusively on Airbus. According to the fleet overview on finnair.com, the fleet looks like this in 2026:

Type	Count	Seats	Use	Registration series
Airbus A350-900	18 (+1 on order)	278 or 321	Long-haul	OH-LWA to OH-LWT
Airbus A330-300	5	279	Long-haul	OH-LT…
Airbus A321	14	209	Europe	OH-LZ…
Airbus A320	10	174	Europe	OH-LX…
Airbus A319	5	144	Europe	OH-LV…
Embraer 190 (Norra)	12	100	Europe, regional routes	OH-LK…
ATR 72-500 (Norra)	12	68 or 70	Finland and neighboring countries	OH-AT…

For spotters this table is worth gold: at Finnair, the letter series after OH-L almost always reveals the type. If you see OH-LW, it’s an A350; OH-LT stands for the A330, OH-LZ for the A321. That way you can match even a blurry photo cleanly. How registrations are structured in general is shown in the article Understanding aircraft registrations, and the country prefixes are under Country codes.

On short- and medium-haul routes Finnair flies first-generation jets: the A319, A320 and A321. According to Finnair, the oldest of them joined the fleet between 2000 and 2004. Don’t confuse them with an A320neo – the neo plays no role at Finnair, and its engines are noticeably larger.

The A350: Finnair’s flagship

In October 2015, Finnair took delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 with the registration OH-LWA – as the first airline in Europe. By the end of 2021 the A350 fleet had grown to 17 aircraft; the youngest so far, OH-LWT, has been in service since December 2024 according to Finnair. One more A350 is still on the order books.

Interesting for collectors: Finnair flies the A350 in two cabin versions with 278 or 321 seats. You can’t see the difference from the outside – only the registration and a look in the database help here.

Besides the A350, Finnair flies the A330-300 on long-haul routes. The five aircraft in the current overview joined the fleet in 2009 and 2010. Other A330s were leased to other airlines in recent years; which ones are currently flying for Finnair changes – the registration helps you here too.

Norra: Embraer and ATR in Finnair colors

Not every aircraft in Finnair livery is flown by Finnair itself. Nordic Regional Airlines, Norra for short, operates twelve Embraer 190s and twelve ATR 72-500s on behalf of Finnair. The aircraft wear the normal Finnair look and fly under AY flight numbers.

You see the ATR turboprops mainly on domestic routes in Finland and on short connections to neighboring countries. The Embraer jets also fly in Europe. For spotters that makes for a simple rule: an Embraer or turboprop in Finnair colors is a Norra flight.

Things are moving here too: in spring 2026, Finnair ordered new-generation Embraer jets, the E195-E2. The first deliveries are planned from 2027. Until then the E190 and ATR define the picture on regional routes.

From the Caravelle to the MD-11: Finnair’s type history

A look back is worthwhile because Finnair was repeatedly early with new types:

• 1960: The jet age begins with the Caravelle, with first destinations including Copenhagen, Cologne and Frankfurt.
• 1969: The Douglas DC-8 launches the Helsinki–New York connection.
• 1983: Nonstop to Tokyo over the North Pole – with extra tanks and a DC-10 as the long-haul jet of those years.
• 1990: Finnair takes delivery of the MD-11 as the first airline in the world and flies it until 2010.
• 2015: Europe’s first A350; in 2017 the A340 leaves the fleet.

Its northern location is the common thread of this story. Helsinki lies on the shortest route between Europe and East Asia, and Finnair built its network on exactly that for a long time. Since Russia closed its airspace to European airlines in 2022, many Asian flights have become much longer. Finnair has since rebuilt its network and increasingly flies to North America and the Middle East as well.

How to recognize Finnair

The livery is deliberately plain: white fuselage, large blue “FINNAIR” titles and the blue logo on the white tail. Colored bands, stripes or a dark belly are absent. A blue Finnair livery has existed since the mid-1980s; the current, reduced version was unveiled in late 2010.

It gets exciting with the special liveries. Finnair has long worked with the Finnish design house Marimekko, whose patterns keep appearing on A330s and A350s. The Moomins have also been a motif on Finnair A350s. Which special liveries are currently flying changes – tips for finding them are in the article Finding special liveries.

Spotting Finnair in Germany

In Germany you see Finnair mainly on feeder flights to Helsinki. The airports served include large ones such as Frankfurt and Munich, plus other cities depending on the schedule. Mostly A320 family jets are used; which type exactly comes depends on the route and season. The A350, on the other hand, you rarely get to see in Germany – one more reason to put it on your wish list.

Because Finnair has only a few rotations a day per airport, planning pays off. Check the schedule for when the AY flights arrive, and choose the spot according to the runway direction in use. Good starting points are the Zeppelinheim viewing platform in Frankfurt, the visitors’ hill in Munich or the observation deck in Düsseldorf. Whether Finnair is flying there at the moment is shown by the current schedule.

You only get the full selection at the Helsinki hub: A350s, A330s, the A320 family, Embraers and ATRs stand side by side there. In the European oneworld environment you also often meet Finnair alongside British Airways or Iberia. An overview of the three big alliances is given in the article Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.

Common mix-ups

• Taking AY for an error – the code comes from the old name Aero and has belonged to Finnair for decades.
• Assigning Finnair to Star Alliance – Finnair is a oneworld member, not a partner of Lufthansa.
• Attributing every Embraer in Finnair colors to Finnair – Norra flies the Embraer 190s and ATR 72s on behalf of Finnair.
• Confusing the A350 and A330 – watch for the cockpit “mask” and the curved wingtips of the A350.
• Logging a Finnair A320 as an A320neo – Finnair flies first-generation A320 family aircraft with smaller engines.
• Confusing SAS and Finnair – the registration OH- decides.

Conclusion

Finnair is quiet in appearance but rich in history: over a hundred years of scheduled service, the world’s first MD-11, Europe’s first A350. For spotters the airline is appealing mainly because of its manageable fleet. If you know the registration series, you can match every sighting in seconds – and set yourself the goal of collecting all A350s from OH-LWA to OH-LWT.