Finnair is celebrating a century of flight, having operated its first-ever service from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia in 1924. Founded on 1 November 1923, Finnair (known then as Aero O/Y) took to the skies for its first commercial flight on 20 March 1924, operating a new service between Helsinki and Tallinn.

The flag carrier’s inaugural flight departed the Finnish capital at 3:40pm carrying 162kg (337lb) of mail, improving connectivity within Northern Europe. This new connection was operated by the airline’s first aircraft, a Junkers F 13 D-335 Regenpfeifer, capable of carrying four customers alongside cargo and mail.

The German built seaplane was equipped with skis for wintry landings and floats for water landings during the summer months. Today, the Helsinki to Tallinn route remains integral to Finnair’s network, with up to 10 daily flights operating between the two capitals.

Anssi Partanen, Finnair European Market Director, said: “We are extremely proud to be celebrating 100 years since our first flight took off from Helsinki, bound for Tallinn, Estonia.“Estonia is an incredibly important market for Finnair, so it is great to be marking both a century since Finnair’s first-ever commercial flight and also 100 years of serving the Baltics – an increasingly popular market for those travelling from the UK & Ireland.”

The anniversary comes just days ahead of Finnair’s relaunch of direct flights between Helsinki and Tartu – Estonia’s second city and a European Capital of Culture 2024. This new connection will launch on 31 March 2024, and will operate 12 times per week on the airline’s regional ATR aircraft.

The new service will also mark the return of commercial air travel to the Baltic city, with Finnair being the only airline to offer direct scheduled flights to/from Tartu. All services have been specifically timed to allow for easy connections from top UK airports, London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and the Irish capital Dublin.

Finnair offers smooth and easy transfers between flights from as little as 35 minutes, thanks to all flights operating from the same terminal.