In Tartu, Finnair Business Services keeps the airline's everyday work running

This office is Finnair Business Services, a Finnair-owned service centre, and this year it turns 25. The story began in 2001, when a team of 12 in Tartu started handling accounting transactions for Finnair. Over the years, more responsibilities moved to Tartu and new teams were set up. What began as a small back-office operation has grown into a team of specialists working across loyalty services, finance, digital development and marketing, often in daily collaboration with colleagues in Finland and elsewhere in the business.

To see how far that work reaches, imagine you are flying from Helsinki to Chicago on an A350. Teams in Tartu help make sure that suppliers are paid, crew accommodation is arranged, spare parts are ordered. You may never see the office, but its work touches almost every stage of your journey. A loyalty program update, support for a reservation, a reply to your feedback or a new digital service may all have passed through Tartu.

Tartu may seem like an unexpected home for an airline office, but the city offers a solid base for international business. It has long drawn students, researchers and young professionals from across Estonia and beyond, and that culture of learning has shaped how Finnair Business Services has grown.

Many careers at the office begin during studies, through university career fairs and internship programs. Assistant Business Controller Jevgenia Katarina Razgonjajeva joined the finance team as a summer trainee in May 2023, after her first year at university. Two years later, she moved to Business Controlling.

“What started as a temporary role turned into a career,” she says. “I've had opportunities to learn, take on new responsibilities and move between roles while staying within the same organisation.”

Her current work sits between accounting and Finnair's marketing, brand, content and payments teams, helping them keep track of their budgets. “Before you book a flight, you might see one of our advertisements online,” she says. “The marketing team creates the campaign, and I make sure the related invoices are processed and paid correctly.”

Around a quarter of her working time goes to the Customer Insights team, where she builds customer surveys, sends them out and helps analyse the results. “If you've ever answered one of our surveys, you've seen a piece of my work.”

What made her stay? “The flexibility to combine work and studies mattered a lot. So did the people. I was surrounded by experienced professionals who taught me a great deal about finance and aviation, a sector that was completely new to me.”

One moment has stayed with her: the day two colleagues from the Customer Insights team visited Tartu for the first time to help her settle into her new tasks. “I got to show them around. We went on a walking tour and had dinner at Püssirohukelder (‘Gunpowder Cellar’), where a student table tennis tournament happened to be going on that evening. I think they got a real feel for Tartu as a student city.”

Her path is a familiar one in Tartu. Team members often move between teams, take part in development projects and build expertise in new areas. Many also join the annual job-shadowing days to see how other teams work. The variety of roles means people can keep growing professionally while staying part of the same community.

The office also works closely with local schools and universities, welcoming students to visit and learn about the professions that keep an airline running, from finance and technology to marketing and digital development. Jevgenia's advice to anyone considering an internship is simple. “You get hands-on experience in aviation without leaving Tartu. The people here know their field, and they're happy to share what they know if you're curious and willing to learn.”

In recent years, the office has kept changing. New technologies, increasing automation and hybrid ways of working have changed how teams collaborate.

Tartu is on Finnair's route map too, 45 minutes from Helsinki. But the city's role in the airline goes well beyond the airport. Every day, the people working there keep the airline's finances in order, solve problems and develop the services that keep an airline running. The next time you board a Finnair flight, some of the work behind it was done in Tartu.