The Finnish national airline Finnair is concerned that the ongoing flight strike may lead to the cancellation of some flights.
The aviation unions began a strike on Monday 17 January, which will affect the operations of Finnair, Finnair Tekniika, GA Telesis Engine Services, the ground support service company TCR and Hub Logistics.
Jaakko SchildtFinnair’s Chief Operating Officer told Yle that although the strike did not cause flight cancellations on Monday or Tuesday, the company is preparing for such a possibility.
"We prepared for the strike with precautions, but by the end of the week this will start to affect traffic," Schildt said, adding that about 30 percent of the company’s technical staff is currently working.
Finnair is also able to serve its aircraft in selected European destinations and the United States.
"We do not compromise on safety under any circumstances. If there are no mechanics to ensure airworthiness, the aircraft will be left on the ground," he said.
This means that the company will have to cancel flights if the aircraft cannot be serviced and repaired.
"We have made a priority plan for flights that will have to be canceled. We definitely want to keep cargo flights to Finland. For example, scheduled and charter flights now have a lot of home tests and protective equipment," Schildt added.
Last week, the S Group said that it had flown a batch of Covid-fast home tests on a Finnair cargo plane from China to Finland.
The labor dispute is advancing to the conciliation table
Finnair says that it has appealed to all parties to resolve the dispute between the trade unions. The labor dispute is due to the union Pro’s efforts to obtain the right to a collective agreement for the organization ITA, which belongs to the union Pro.
The ITA has resigned from the Aviation Union IAU, which has a collective agreement with employers in the Service Employers Group in Palta. According to Pro, both Palta and the IAU oppose the ITA’s right to enter into its own collective agreement.
The dispute was mediated by the Finnish national mediator, but negotiations were suspended on Monday due to a lack of progress between the opposing parties. The strike is scheduled to last two weeks.
"It is good that the strike has a deadline, but we hope that such uncertainty will be resolved as soon as possible, because it is not sustainable in terms of security of supply," Schildt said.
Finnair added that it strives to inform customers in advance of possible flight cancellations so that customers can prepare for possible changes.
The ITA said it had tried to discuss the possibility of excluding flights with security equipment from the strike parameters, but the association said it had not received sufficiently detailed information on these flights.
Source: The Nordic Page