Finnair to cancel more flights amid strike
HELSINKI (AFP) - Finnair said Tuesday it might cancel another 200 flights as irritated passengers scrambled to reschedule their flights on the second day of a pilots' strike.
| Related news: • Finnair strike strands thousands of passengers • Finnair pilots' strike to ground flights |
"We are not sure yet if we will cancel all or some of Wednesday's flights," Finnair spokeswoman Maria Mroue told AFP.
"So far more than 400 flights have been cancelled and it has impacted more than than 32,000 passengers," she said, adding that the company's phone lines were busy as it tried to reschedule stranded passengers.
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, immediately grounding most flights.
The company 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.
Mroue said the company's representatives were to meet with national conciliator Esa Lonka on Tuesday.
He has not so far called for new negotiations between the company and union representatives.
Finnair forecast the walkout and flight cancellations would cost between 2.5 million and 5.0 million euros (between 3.7 million and 7.5 million dollars) a day.
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 (Tuesday, 17 November 2009 15:37)
