Finnair cancels Tallinn-Helsinki flights because of pilot strike
16.11.2009, 09:06Flights on Tallinn-Helsinki route are cancelled because of the strike of Finnair pilots that starts today.
Since the strike involves Finncomm that operates flights between the two capitals, the airline will make its only flight today to Helsinki at 6.15 am and cancel all other departures until further notice.
To make matters worse, Estonian Air that also operated between Tallinn and Helsinki stopped the route on Friday for the winter.
According to Tallinn Airport, travellers who have booked their flight for Finnair in Estonia must contact the Finnair service centre in Finland. "Unfortunately we cannot help them in Estonia," said a representative of Tallinn Airport.
"We recommend passengers to postpone their trip since at present there is no information how long the strike could last," said Jan-Michael Nigmann, Baltic sales manager for Finnair.
Finnair has also offered to refund the cost of unused tickets or reroute passengers on other airlines and asked passengers to contact their travel agents in connection with possible refunds.
The pilots' strike over the use of subcontractor crews in cockpits forced Finnair to cancel about 40 flights already on Sunday that affected travel plans of about 5,500 passengers on Sunday. However, the airline aims to run all leisure flights.
Bloomberg reported that the argument with pilots centers over two aircraft Finnair is renting to Finnish Commuter Airlines Oy as subdued demand leaves its planes empty. Finnair doesn’t consider this outsourcing. The pilots, whose collective agreement expired a year ago, yesterday rejected a mediation proposal by the government, the third attempt to end the row since 2008.
The strike will cost the carrier between 2.5 million and 5 million euros each day.
Finnair has been unprofitable for five consecutive quarters, posting a 20.7 million-euro net loss in the three months through September.
Finnair is Finland’s biggest airline and is 56% owned by the state.