Finnair to lose €5 million from strike

Finnair pilots went on strike and grounded Finnair’s flights on Monday after the recent decline of the talks proposal on Saturday. The Finnish Airline Pilots’ Association and Finnair have been attempting to make a deal for over a year, with the negotiation coming to a start two weeks before as Finnair began to outsource some flight routes.

In a statement, the union said that it would not sign the state mediator’s proposal that only allowed unrestricted use of outside workforce but not giving pilots any work security.

The strike resulted to over 400 flight cancellations, affecting about 32,000 Finnair passengers. Taneli Hassinen, Spokesman of Finnair, informed that the carrier will lose up to €5 million daily during a strike that grounded the entire domestic and international air travels, except for its leisure flights. Finnair had cancelled several of its long-haul flights from Helsinki on Sunday, and other European air travels departing on Sunday and returning on Monday.

Finnair has informed that passengers whose flights have been cancelled should contact their air travel agency or Finnair’s hotline to either postpone or reroute their flight schedule. A reimbursement on any unused section of the ticket can be availed as well. Moreover, Finnair advised passengers to check its website for the latest information.

Like other carriers, the state-controlled Finnair had cut jobs, slashed capacity and introduced a number of cost-saving schemes as the global economic crisis reduced air travel demand. The struggling airline company had earlier posted a slightly higher than expected loss in the third quarter.