Finnair cuts 700 jobs over drop in air traffic due to coronavirus

Finnish flag carrier Finnair announced on Tuesday its plan to cut 700 jobs - most of them in Finland - and continue to implement temporary layoffs for thousands of workers in an attempt to survive the slump in air traffic caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a press release issued by the company, of which the Finnish state is the main shareholder, the airline will cut 600 jobs in Finland and another 100 jobs in other countries due to "the dramatic market changes caused by the pandemic."

Approximately 2,800 people, those who make up the cabin and cockpit (pilots) crews in Finland, will be saved from job cuts.

Finnair says it has completed the co-operation process started in September on its plans to reduce up to 1,000 jobs, to make other structural changes and to implement additional temporary layoffs due to the impacts of the Covid-19. In total, Finnair currently employs approximately 6.500 people.

"A very sad day"

“This is a very sad day at Finnair. The corona pandemic has been completely unfair to our industry and unfortunately many Finnair employees now must experience its financial implications personally.” says Topi Manner, CEO of Finnair.

“The changes are, however, necessary and inevitable. Finnair’s re-build requires us to be competitive when aviation gradually starts to recover. Therefore, in the future, we will have to do many things differently in order to succeed in the competitive market,” the top executive added.

In addition to the redundancies, Finnair continues temporary layoffs impacting most of its employees in Finland. For many, the temporary layoffs may continue for a long time as the recovery of aviation will take several years, according to the industry estimates.