The Finnish Aviation Academy is a vocational special purpose aviation school located in the City of Pori on the west coast of Finland. The purpose of the Academy is to train professional pilots for the need of Finnish professional aviation. The number of students is determined annually based on the need for new pilots for the airlines in Finland.
Training at the Finnish Aviation Academy meets the EASA Regulations. The training is also in accordance with the requirements stated by the Finnish airlines as well as the laws of Finland.
In addition to training new pilots, the Finnish Aviation Academy also offers commercial services, such as training services and simulator and training device leasing and training services to operators on a global basis.
Finnish Aviation Academy presentation 2020 (PDF)
Typical example of a training flight with Embraer Phenom 100 business jet aircraft (EFPO 18 October 2014)
Finnair years 1985-2001
The national airline of Finland is Finnair. The airline was established in 1923 and is one of the oldest operating airlines. Since the 1950’s Finnair had its own pilot training school. The pilot training was moved from Helsinki for a brief period in the 1970’s to Kuopio in eastern Finland and then in 1985 to its present location in Pori.
In 1985 Finnair invested into the new Pori training school by purchasing a new training aircraft fleet and several trainers as well as a King Air 300 full flight simulator. The Pori facilities were previously owned by the Finnish Air Force.
Finnish Aviation Academy (FINAA) since 2002
The Finnish Aviation Academy Ltd was established at the start of 2002. The ownership of the Academy was shared between the Government of Finland (49,5 %), Finnair (49,5 %) and the City of Pori (1 %). The aim of this change was to have the Academy serve the whole professional aviation industry in Finland and all airlines operating in Finland. Finnair remained the airline to receive new first officers from the Academy.
The aircraft fleet has changed during the years. The two Beechcraft King Air 300 aircraft were sold in 2011 and replaced with two modern Embarer Phenom 100’s. BE36 Bonanza aircraft were replaced by three Diamond DA-42-aircraft early 2015.
Since 1985 more than 300 students have graduated and many fly also for airlines outside Finland.The Academy has during 2009 – 2011 trained 15 ab initio helicopter pilots. These were special courses to help fill the need for new helicopter pilots in Finland. The pilots received training to CPL level.
