During 1965 she was also used on short cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn in the Åland Islands. In July of the same year she lost her rudder near Mariehamn. 1964-1980įollowing delivery, the Ilmatar was used on traffic from Helsinki or Turku to Skeppsbron in Stockholm.

In 1978-1979 she was rebuilt for cruise service at the shipyard that had built her, with cabins rebuilt and a casino, swimming pool, gym, cinema and lounge featuring live entertainment were added. Due to the increased passenger capacity the number of crew carried was also increased from 93 to 113. Additional engines and two additional propellers increased her speed to 20 kn (37 km/h). The Ilmatar was found to be too small from the start, and in 1973 she was docked at HDW Hamburg, Germany, where she was lengthened by 20.04 m (65 ft 9 in), increasing her passenger capacity to 1210, passenger berths to 450 and car capacity to 75. The Ilmatar was delivered on 15 June 1964. On 29 October 1963 the ship was launched and christened Ilmatar (spiritess of the air, a character from the Finnish national epic Kalevala) by Sylvi Kekkonen, the wife of Urho Kekkonen who was the President of Finland at the time. The construction of the new vessel was awarded to Wärtsilä's Helsinki New Shipyard, and she was the largest ship built by the shipyard at the time. Her service speed was planned at 16.50 kn (30.56 km/h), and she was to carry 1000 passengers, 332 of them in two classes with berths and the rest as classless deck passengers.

For the first time in Finland SS Co's history, the new ship was fitted with diesel engines and included side-loadable car deck for 50 cars. In the early 1960s the Finland Steamship Company decided to construct a 5,171 gross register ton ship for the Finland-Sweden service the company operated in collaboration with Steamship Company Bore, Rederi AB Svea, and Siljavarustamo, a joint subsidiary of the three companies.

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