Title: Aero O.Y.
Artist: Unknown
Year of Publication: c. 1926
Publisher:
Language: English
Size: 33” x 22”
Index Number: 00203

Description:

This Aero O.Y. advertisement depicts an early Suomi Junkers G-24 floatplane, K-SALC, flying over the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea.  The pontoons allowed the plane to land on water.  Aero O.Y. airlines was formed with government capitol on November 1, 1923, in Helsinki, the capitol of Finland.  The first passenger service between Helsinki and Reval took place with a Junkers F. 13 aircraft on March 20, 1924.  By the summer of June 2, 1924, the trans-Baltic route was inaugurated in partnership with A.B.A. (Air Sweden).  This service operated between their two Northern capitols via Turku.  The route for Aero O.Y. started in Helsinki, and later crossed the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn in the Soviet Union and Stockholm, Germany. 

In 1926 routes to Turku, Mariehamm, and Viipuri were added and services were extended throut Finland to the provinces of Tampere, Vaasa, Oulu, Kemi, Rovaniemi, Ivalo and Petsamo.  Finland’s treacherous geography, including thousands of miles of sea coast, more than 55,000 lakes and ponds, and one third of all land lying above the Arctic circle made travel difficult, however the arrival of the versatile float plane resulted in greater travel efficiency.