Ground Handling Strikes Affecting Finnair Flights On May 16 & 19, 2025

Two additional strikes will affect Finnair and other airlines’ traffic at various airports in Finland on May 16 and 19, 2025.

It is currently unclear how many employees and in which functions are participating, but last time it was first 600 employees working at ground handling, airline catering, repair, and maintenance, and then 300 employees who handle passengers, ground handling, and cargo.

You can access Finnair here.

When there were two similar strikes on May 2 and 5, they ended up cancelling roughly half to a third of Finnair’s flights scheduled for those days.

Finnair has not yet issued a warning to passengers scheduled to travel on these two days.

There is still a possibility that an agreement will be reached before these strikes take place.

The EC 261/2004 Air Passenger Rights legislation also applies during these strikes. The airlines are required to rebook you to your final destination as soon as possible and provide Duty to Care (accommodation and meals) in case of long delays.

Passengers whose flight is cancelled or significantly delayed can also opt for a refund, but that is their choice.

The delay compensation doesn’t apply if the striking employees are not employed by the airline.

Finnair’s EC 261/2004 Notice:

Conclusion

Finnair still hasn’t reached an agreement with its Pilot Union (the negotiations have been ongoing for about six months), and close to 2,000 flights have been cancelled as the cockpit crew refuse to work overtime or cover pilots who call in sick.

These rolling ground handling strikes paralyze Finnair on days when they occur and affect other airlines.

Let’s hope the parties can reach an agreement before these two strikes are scheduled to take place.

Source