Blue 1 announced Thursday that it plans to reduce its fleet of aircraft from nine to five planes. The reduction will mean that half of the airline’s 320 workers will become redundant. The company said it will begin co-determination talks next Tuesday and expects them to wrap up in about one week.
Blue 1 said that its parent company SAS is also cutting back on flight capacity due to poor financial results. On Wednesday SAS announced second quarter losses of 120 million euros.
According to chief executive Mikael Wångdahl the fleet and personnel changes will mostly affect flights leaving Stockholm bound for other European destinations. Flights leaving Helsinki will not be affected.
"Our remaining stock will be in Finland so it’s natural that we will continue operating there," he added.
According to Wångdahl the reduced fleet size will take effect from November. The planned Blue 1 cuts were first reported in the business daily Kauppalehti.