Pilots’ Strike Disrupts Thousands of Travel Plans
Image: YLE
Finnair has had to cancel hundreds of flights due to the pilots' stirke. Finnair says the strike is a severe financial blow, but pilots say they won't budge on the question of outsourcing.
The airline announced a total of around 400 flights have already been cancelled. Meanwhile, over 32,000 travellers have been affected by the strike. Some holiday flights are still, however, operating.
Although the strike began officially at midnight, disruption to Finnair flights was already apparent on Sunday. All European and domestic flights from Helsinki, with a scheduled return on Monday were cancelled, as well as nearly all long-haul departures. Some holiday flights are being flown with the help of managerial staff.
"This strike causes inconvenience to 15,000 passengers today and is an immense task for our customer service staff to find alternative routes", says Taneli Hassinen, Finnair's Director of Communications.
Hassinen also points to the financial headache the strike will give the airline. He predicts daily losses of 2.5 to 5 million euros, adding these will add to the losses of 140 million euros already posted by Finnair.
Pilots: Outsourcing Remains the Problem
It became clear a strike would take off on Saturday when the Finnish Airline Pilots Association rejected a mediation proposal put forward by the National Conciliator, Esa Lonka. The airline accepted the proposal but for pilots it did not go the heart of the matter, the outsourcing of personnel on Finnair flights.
"It is not an issue of money or pension age", says Kristian Rintala, President of the Finnish Airline Pilots' Association. Rintala adds Finnair would have started the use of outsourced personnel on its own flights even if the strike had not begun.
Rintala has taken a conciliatory stance despite rejecting the weekend proposal for a solution put forward by the National Conciliator. The pilots' union boss says he is ready for fresh talks and hopes a quick solution to the dispute can be found. Attempts to negotiate a settlement in the dispute are expected to get underway sometime later this week.
Finnair recommends that those passengers who can postpone their travel would do so. For those who cannot postpone their travel, Finnair will try to arrange for travel on other carriers. Finnair will also reimburse travellers for unused tickets.
The airline promises to be flexible in the rebooking of tickets regardless of what type of ticket was involved.
Finnair CEO: Outsourcing Dispute Inconceivable
Meanwhile, Finnair CEO Jukka Hienonen said he was shocked and saddened by the strike.
”Finnair is a company that exists only for its customers. I find it incomprehensible that this kind of labour dispute has begun when the entire airline industry is currently going through the largest struggle in history,” he said.
“Should these planes instead be leased, for example, to Nigeria where they would not serve Finnair’s network, routes or Finnish customers, or be a threat to Finnair pilots?”
Hienonen added he finds it inconceivable that in year’s time pilots have rejected three proposals put forth by the national conciliator.
National Conciliator Esa Lonka said on Monday that he could not speculate when the strike would be resolved.
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