National flag carrier Finnair will cancel about 900 flights on July 2, 4 and 7 again due to strikes announced by the trade unions, said Finnair in a press release on Wednesday.
The Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) decided to observe the strike as the unions unanimously rejected the negotiation proposal made by the mediator regarding renewal of the collective agreement for aviation services.
The IAU has announced the four-hour strikes on the days at Finnair’s home hub, Helsinki Airport, causing extensive disruptions to traffic, said Finnair.
According to IAU, the strikes will affect different work shifts and will impact all essential ground services such as baggage and ground handling operations and catering services related to Finnair flights throughout those days.
Finnair flies over 900 flights on July 2, 4, and 7 and if the strike goes ahead, a substantial number of these flights will likely be cancelled. Also, flights on days surrounding the strikes could be affected.
Passengers with bookings on these days can change their travel date free of charge to avoid disruptions caused by the strikes. Flights can be rescheduled to an earlier date or postponed until the end of September.
Passengers can change their flight date via Finnair’s Manage Booking service if their ticket type allows changes. In other cases, changes can be made by contacting Finnair customer service or the travel agency that sold the tickets.
There is time to make a change to the flight date until the departure date of the original flight, so there is no need to contact customer service immediately, said Finnair.
“Flight cancellations caused by industrial action have unfortunately caused congestion at our customer service, and we are sorry for the harm this situation causes to our customers. We are doing everything we can to serve our customers as well as possible. We don't yet have more detailed information about the possible flight cancellations, so it is therefore not advisable to inquire about the status of your flight from customer service at this stage,” said Finnair's Head of Solution Management, Sami Suokas.
Finnair will start cancelling flights on the strike days two days before the departure date of the flight, once it has a clearer picture of the available resources.
Passengers whose flight was cancelled due to the strike will be informed about the cancellation as soon as it has been done.
After this, the passengers will receive a message and be offered a new route, and the offered routing can be changed within the limits of flight availability.
Alternatively, passengers can cancel their reservation and apply for a refund for the unused ticket
The IAU has also announced industrial action for July 16, 18, 21, and 23.
The impact of industrial action on these days is still being assessed, but is expected to be smaller than in early July.
Earlier on June 19, Finnair cancelled about 128 flights due to a four-hour strike enforced by the trade unions.
Finnair also cancelled about 143 flights on Tuesday (June 17) due to a similar strike.
Finnair cancelled about 110 flights on June 4 due to the strike.
On June 2, Finnair cancelled about 50 flights due to the strike.
Earlier on May 30, Finnair cancelled about 110 flights due to a four-hour strike enforced by the trade unions.
On May 19, Finnair also cancelled about 110 flights due to the strike observed by the unions.
On May 16, Finnair cancelled about 60 flights due to a four-hour strike enforced by the trade unions.
On May 5, Finnair cancelled about 100 flights due to a four-hour strike enforced by the trade unions.
Finnair also cancelled about 140 flights on May 2 due to strike.
On March 27, Finnair cancelled about 70 flights due to strike called by the IAU and the Finnish Transport Workers' Union (AKT).
- Strikes
- Disrupt
- 900
- Finnair
- Flights
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
