FINNAIR on Thursday announced it will begin consultative negotiations with its staff over the termination of up to 200 jobs globally, including 120 in Finland.
The Finnish majority state-owned airline said the negotiations will concern about 770 employees working in executive, expert and managerial roles in Finland. They will not, however, concern crew or other operative employees in any of its countries of operation.
The job cuts are part of a strategic effort to restore profitability to pre-pandemic levels and transition to operating with a smaller capacity.
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“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the closed Russian airspace have impacted our business significantly. Thus, in addition to other actions to restore Finnair’s profitability, we have to discuss measures that are, unfortunately, the most painful ones for our employees,” commented Topi Manner, the chief executive of Finnair.
The airline said it will also discuss setting up a social support programme for employees who could lose their jobs due to the downsizing. The negotiations are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, 5 October.
Finnair in September revealed that it intends to “balance” its route network and downsize its fleet as part of a strategic re-think necessitated by the war in Ukraine. The airline has set itself the goal of reducing unit costs by 15 per cent from the level of 2019 and achieve comparable earnings before taxes and other adjustments of five per cent by 2024.
The company has adopted cost-cutting measures worth over 200 million euros in the past 30 months.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT