National flag carrier Finnair will cancel about 60 flights on Friday due to a four-hour strike enforced 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.
According to IAU, the strike will be four-hour-long and will take place in different shifts at Helsinki Airport.
The industrial actions target different work shifts and thus affect many functions essential to Finnair's flights throughout the day, such as ground handling operations and catering services, said Finnair.
Finnair will have to cancel about 60 flights and the cancellations will affect about 6,000 Finnair passengers.
The airline will offer passengers an alternative flight.
"We are very sorry for the changes to our customers' travel plans caused by this situation. We are doing our best to offer our customers new routing as quickly as possible," said Jaakko Schildt, Finnair's Chief Operating Officer in the press release.
Passengers whose flight was cancelled due to 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.
The IAU has also announced similar strike on May 19.
Finnair is still assessing the exact effects of the strike on that day's traffic, but it is likely that if it takes place, it will cause disruptions on that day as well.
Earlier 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).
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
