Finnair strike strands thousands of passengers
HELSINKI, November 16, 2009 (AFP) - Helsinki's main airport was almost deserted on Monday as a Finnair pilots' strike stranded thousands of passengers and forced them to reschedule their flights.
| Related news: • Finnair pilots' strike to ground flights |
The Finnish airline pilots association SLL went on strike Monday at 0:01 am (2201 GMT on Sunday) after wage negotiations at the weekend broke down.
Most Finnair flights were grounded as a result, leaving the Helsinki-Vantaa airport almost empty as passengers turned to the phone to reschedule their bookings.
An AFP journalist at the scene said the airport was almost empty at midday, but there was a long line at the booking desk of Finnair rival Blue 1 as passengers tried to change their reservations.
Finnair partner Finncomm Airlines said it had added more flights and routes to serve as many passengers as possible, while British Airways was flying to Helsinki with bigger aircraft.
Finnair was helping its customers change their flights, but the wait on the phone was at times long.
"Our phone services are busy and we are looking into getting more people to answer the phones," Finnair's spokeswoman Maria Mroue told AFP.
The company, which has cancelled all of its flights for Tuesday as well, estimated that the strike would impact around 20,000 passengers a day as some 200 daily flights are expected to be cancelled.
It forecast the walkout would cost between 2.5 million and 5.0 million euros (between 3.7 million and 7.5 million dollars) a day.
Finnair's pilots on Saturday turned down a wage plan proposal because it did not provide a solution to Finnair's plans to outsource pilots.
The union said it hoped to reach an agreement with Finnair soon, but national conciliator Esa Lonka told Finnish news agency STT that no decision about a new meeting between the parties has been made.
"I hope that we could reach an agreement in a couple of days," SLL union chief Kristian Rintala told national broadcaster YLE.
Like most of the airline industry, Finnair has been struggling with lower passenger numbers and fares amid the global financial turmoil.
Last month Finnair reported a net loss of 20.7 million euros in the third quarter. It wants to cut annual costs by 200 million euros.
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Last Updated (Monday, 16 November 2009 12:24)
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