Finnair confirmed early on 28 November that it will ground roughly 300 flights on 9 and 13 December after the Finnish Air Line Pilots’ Association (SLL) filed a legal 48-hour strike notice. The walk-out will coincide with the peak of Finland’s pre-Christmas travel season and is expected to disrupt itineraries for about 33,000 passengers, most of them business travellers using Helsinki-Vantaa as a Northern Europe hub.
The dispute centres on stalled talks over a new collective labour agreement that expired at the end of September. Union leaders say no progress has been made on issues ranging from scheduling guarantees to fatigue management, while Finnair insists that any pay and roster concessions must be balanced against a fragile post-pandemic balance-sheet still weighed down by the loss of Russian overflight rights.
![Finnair Pilots Call 48-Hour Strike for 9–13 December; 300 Flights Pre-emptively Cancelled]()
Finnair has begun proactive re-accommodation, offering passengers alternative dates or full refunds, but warns that capacity at key oneworld partners British Airways, Iberia and Qatar Airways is limited at short notice. Corporate travel managers are urged to review mission-critical trips and build contingency routings via Stockholm or Copenhagen if connections at Helsinki cannot be guaranteed.
Labour unrest is not confined to aviation: Finland has seen rolling industrial action across transport and public-sector unions this autumn in protest at government reforms on pensions and unemployment insurance. The pilot strike therefore risks compounding a broader logistics squeeze, particularly for exporters who rely on belly-hold capacity out of Helsinki-Vantaa.
If no settlement is reached the strike could intensify. Under Finnish law the union must give a 14-day notice for additional action, meaning further pre-Christmas walk-outs remain a possibility—a critical planning factor for multinational firms moving staff or high-value cargo through Finland.
The dispute centres on stalled talks over a new collective labour agreement that expired at the end of September. Union leaders say no progress has been made on issues ranging from scheduling guarantees to fatigue management, while Finnair insists that any pay and roster concessions must be balanced against a fragile post-pandemic balance-sheet still weighed down by the loss of Russian overflight rights.
Finnair has begun proactive re-accommodation, offering passengers alternative dates or full refunds, but warns that capacity at key oneworld partners British Airways, Iberia and Qatar Airways is limited at short notice. Corporate travel managers are urged to review mission-critical trips and build contingency routings via Stockholm or Copenhagen if connections at Helsinki cannot be guaranteed.
Labour unrest is not confined to aviation: Finland has seen rolling industrial action across transport and public-sector unions this autumn in protest at government reforms on pensions and unemployment insurance. The pilot strike therefore risks compounding a broader logistics squeeze, particularly for exporters who rely on belly-hold capacity out of Helsinki-Vantaa.
If no settlement is reached the strike could intensify. Under Finnish law the union must give a 14-day notice for additional action, meaning further pre-Christmas walk-outs remain a possibility—a critical planning factor for multinational firms moving staff or high-value cargo through Finland.
