Finnair to cancel 250 more flights from Monday

National flag carrier Finnair on Sunday cancelled 26 domestic and international flights scheduled for Sunday and Monday following the sympathy strike called by the Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) in support of the ongoing national postal workers’ strike.

The airlines will cancel about 250 more flights from Monday, said a Finnair press release on Sunday.

Eight flight scheduled for Sunday and 18 flights scheduled for Monday were cancelled due to the strike, Finnair said.

The support strike would affect many critical operations including ground handling and customer service at Helsinki Airport, as well as catering and technical operations.

Finnair, however, is not a party in the dispute, said the announcement.

The flights cancelled for Sunday were Helsinki – Hong Kong (AY101), Helsinki – Beijing Daxing (AY81)

Helsinki – Kuopio (AY379), Helsinki – Kajaani (AY419), Helsinki – Joensuu (AY349), Helsinki – Jyväskylä (AY289), Helsinki – Tampere (AY269), Helsinki – Kuopio (AY375).

The flights cancelled for Monday are Hong Kong – Helsinki (AY102), Beijing Daxing – Helsinki (AY82), Kuopio – Helsinki (AY380), Kajaani – Helsinki (AY420), Joensuu – Helsinki (AY350), Jyväskylä – Helsinki (AY290), Tampere – Helsinki (AY270), Kuopio – Helsinki (AY376), Kokkola – Helsinki (AY400), Vaasa – Helsinki (AY322), Turku – Helsinki (AY230), Tartu – Helsinki (AY1046), Moscow – Helsinki (AY720), St Petersburg – Helsinki (AY704), Stockholm – Helsinki (AY826), Tallinn – Helsinki (AY1036), Helsinki - Bangkok (AY145) and Bangkok - Helsinki (AY146).

As the parties have not reached an agreement, Finnair now has to cancel flights from Monday.

“Finnair has already cancelled 26 flights from Sunday evening November 24 and from Monday morning November 25, and will now cancel approximately 250 more flights from Monday, November 25,” said the Finnair press release.

Finnair had 377 flights in its traffic program for Monday, and the company expects to be able operate approximately 120 of them.

“Finnair is not a party in the dispute related to the support strike, however it’s impacts are now seriously disrupting the travel plans of over 20 000 Finnair customers,” said Jaakko Schildt, Chief Operating Officer, Finnair.

The Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) has called a sympathy strike from November 25 at 3:00am to November 26 at 3:00am in support of the postal workers’ strike.

Earlier, the Transport Workers’ Union AKT has also announced its intent to support PAU with a sympathy strike. So AKT members working at the airport will be on strike as well.

The Finnish Postal and Logistics Union (PAU) has launched the strike across the country from November 11 morning and is scheduled to continue till December 8.

PAU’s strike has made mail delivery very difficult across Finland.

The reason for the strike is the employer’s decision to force some 700 Posti employees into another collective agreement.