Finnair cancels about 300 flights on Dec 9, 13 due to pilots´ strike

National flag carrier Finnair on Saturday decided to cancel about 300 flights on December 9 and December 13 as the Finnish Air Line Pilots' Association announced a strike on the stipulated days, said an official press release.

Finnish Pilots’ Association (The Suomen Lentäjäliitto) and Finnish commercial pilot association (Suomen Liikennelentäjäliiton (SLL) called to strike protesting against the austerity measures and demanding a new collective agreement.

Finnair has to cancel about 140 flights from December 9 and about 150 flights from December 13. The strike will also hamper some flights before and after the strike days and the strike is feared to impact about 33,000 Finnair passengers.

"This (strike) unfortunately disrupts the travel plans of thousands of our customers during the pre-Christmas season. We are doing everything we can to serve our customers well even in this difficult situation and will offer alternative flights to as many customers as possible," said Finnair's Chief Operating Officer Jaakko Schildt.

The airlines authority will inform the passengers about the cancellation and will also arrange a new routing.

As a large number of passengers to be rerouted, it would be not possible for the airlines to offer everyone a rerouting that is close to the original flight schedule.

In such cases Finnair requested passengers to contact its customer service to find a suitable route option. If a suitable new flight could not be found, passengers can apply for a refund of the ticket price from Finnair Customer Service or, if the ticket was purchased through a travel agent, from the travel agency in question.

"We are extremely sorry for the worry and inconvenience this situation causes our customers," said Schildt.