Finnair is to commence negotiations with its pilots to discuss possible personnel reductions, due to the ongoing strike for better wages by the Finnish Transport Pilots’ Association (SLL).
The work reduction may arise if the ongoing industrial action by pilots leads to changes in Finnair’s cooperation agreement, the company announced on February 7, 2025. Negotiations will start on February 12, 2025, to discuss a possible furlough of a maximum of 90 pilots. Finnair currently employs approximately 1,000 pilots.
As part of the ongoing labor negotiations that began in autumn of 2024, the pilot’s union has expanded its strike actions, including a stand-by ban to cover the flights operated for the partner carrier, as well as the flights that pilots use to transfer to these flights.
In response, the airline has initiated discussions with its partner about future options for the cooperation agreement, including the possibility of ending it, which would directly affect the amount of work available to Finnair pilots.
“It is sad that the pilot union’s prolonged industrial action has led to a situation where we have to start change negotiations,” said Kaisa Aalto-Luoto, Chief People Officer at Finnair. “Today is a tough day for all of us at Finnair. In our 101 years of history, we have never needed to reduce pilot positions due to operational reasons. Even when the Russian airspace closed and fundamentally changed our operating environment, we succeeded in securing employment for our pilots with collaboration arrangements.”
The negotiations will also explore the possibility of adding stand-by duty to employment contracts. The pilot’s union has declined to accept stand-by duties collectively and proposed that stand-by should always be voluntary, instead of mandatory.
“Stand-by is an established practice in the industry and I believe that every Finnair pilot recognizes it as part of their job,” Aalto-Luoto added. “As the union has declined to agree on this, we are now preparing to include stand-by duty in the employment contracts of all pilots.”
Collective agreement negotiations between the Finnish Transport Pilots’ Association (SLL) and Finnair have now been ongoing for over five months. The negotiations have not produced any concrete results, and the pilot union has rejected several settlement proposals, the airline claims.
