Finnair mulls staff furlough due to Russian airspace closure

National flag carrier Finnair on Thursday called the employee representatives to discuss plans regarding possible furloughs of its pilots and cabin crew up to 90 days following flight suspensions due to the closure of Russian airspace.

If implemented, the estimated need for additional monthly furloughs for pilots ranges from 90 to 200 and for cabin crew from 150 to 450 employees starting from April, said the airline in a press release.

The final furlough need, however, depends on how the exceptional situation progresses and what mitigations can be found and will be defined during the negotiations.

The negotiations concern all 2800 pilots and cabin crew members in Finland. In addition, Finnair evaluates the impacts regarding employees outside Finland in those destinations where the availability of work is estimated to decrease.

Russia issued a notam (notice to airmen) on Monday 28 February regarding the closure of Russian airspace from Finnish aircraft until 28 May 2022.

Finnair has now cancelled all of its flights to Russia until May 28, and has so far cancelled a part of its Asian flights until March 6, 2022.

”With Russian airspace closed, there will be fewer flights by Finnair, and unfortunately less work available for our employees”, said Jaakko Schildt, Chief Operations Officer, Finnair.

”A large share of our staff has been on long furloughs during the pandemic, so the need for further furloughs feels especially harsh, and we are sorry for this,” Schildt added.

Earlier on 27 February, European Commission decided to shut its airspace to Russian airlines in response to Russia´s military attack in Ukraine.

On the same day Finnair decided to suspend its flights in Russian airspace for one week.