The Finnish Aviation Union has submitted a strike notice concerning the ground forwarding work for Tuesday 19 May and Wednesday 20 May.
The strike threat also concerns Finnair and its subcontractors. Finnair is in no way party to this dispute.
If implemented, the FAU strike would clearly impact Finnair flight operation. In practice, the strike would halt all luggage services and services related to flights for several hours during the rush hour on two days and therefore impact the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
The sympathy strike would also slow down Finnair's customer service at Helsinki Airport.
If the strike is implemented, Finnair will have to cancel most of its flights in 19 and 20 May and some of its flights on 18 May. According to Finnair, this will prevent a situation where thousands of people are stuck at Helsinki Airport while the traffic is halted.
Finnair will issue an update on the situation on Friday, 15 May.
“We hope that the disputing parties will reach an agreement. We are disappointed by the fact the Finnair and our customers will be subject to harmful activities despite the fact that Finnair is not a party to the dispute and the matter is in no way related to Finnair,” says Finnair's COO Ville Iho.
Finnair advises its customers to do as follows
- If your flight is scheduled on a possible strike day, you can change your flight in advance free of charge by following the instructions on Finnair's website.
- Ensure that your mobile phone number and other contact information in your flight reservation are up to date.
- In case of cancellations, Finnair will inform its customers directly and also post a notice on Twitter and Finnair's website.
Up-to-date information on the flights to and from Helsinki Airport
If you are travelling from or returning to Helsinki Airport or picking up passengers there, you can follow the flight situation 20 hours prior to the flight's scheduled time at Finavia's website:
I am departing from Helsinki Airport