Finnair threatens to axe up to 90 pilots

National flag carrier Finnair will start change negotiations with its pilots to discuss the possible need for personnel reductions that may arise if the ongoing industrial action by pilots leads to changes in Finnair's cooperation agreement, said an official press release on Friday.

The negotiations will start on February 12 to discuss a possible reduction or furlough of a maximum of 90 pilots.

The negotiations will also discuss a plan to introduce the established stand-by practice into pilots' employment contracts, as the Finnish Transport Pilots' Association (SLL) has announced its reluctance to collectively agree on stand-by duty in a collective agreement.

Two of Finnair’s A330 aircraft have been wet leased by another carrier, flying with Finnair crew between Sydney and Bangkok and Singapore.

The range of the A330 aircraft limits their use in Finnair’s Asian network after the Russian airspace closure, and this collaboration has allowed Finnair to put its A330s into productive use, employing about 90 pilots. Finnair has a total of about 1 000 pilots.

In connection with the collective labour negotiations for pilots that have been ongoing since autumn, the Pilot’s union has extended industrial action, including a stand-by ban, to cover the flights operated for the partner carrier as well as the flights that pilots use to transfer to these flights.

This impacts Finnair’s ability to operate the flights as agreed, and Finnair has initiated discussions with its partner on future options for the cooperation agreement, with one option being termination of the agreement. This would have a direct impact on the amount of work available to Finnair pilots.

"It is sad that the pilot union’s prolonged industrial action has led to a situation where we have to start change negotiations. Today is a tough day for all of us at Finnair," said Kaisa Aalto-Luoto, Finnair's Chief People Officer.

"In our 101 years of history, we have never needed to reduce pilot positions due to operational reasons. Even when the Russian airspace closed and fundamentally changed our operating environment, we succeeded in securing employment for our pilots with collaboration arrangements." Aalto-Luoto added.

The change negotiations will also cover inclusion of stand-by duty in employment contracts, as the pilot union has refused to agree on stand-by duties collectively and proposed that stand-by should always be voluntary.

Collective agreement negotiations between the Finnish Transport Pilots' Association (SLL) and Service Sector Employers Palta ry concerning Finnair pilots have now been going on for more than five months and under the leadership of the National Conciliator since November.

The negotiations have not yielded results, and the pilot union has rejected several settlement proposals that the employer would have accepted.