Airline forced to cancel 550 flights this week – affecting 60,000 passengers

A EUROPEAN airline is canceling more than 500 flights this week – and it will affect thousands.

From tomorrow, the cancellations are related to the continuation of the trade union strike.

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Political strikeswhich occur across Finlandresulting in hundreds of cancellations being confirmed by Finnair.

The trade union leader Hokan Extreme said that a strike was not aimed at airlines and airports, they understood that it would cause “difficulty and inconvenience to many passengers”.

Finnair currently operates around 280 flights a day, but most of them will be suspended on February 1 and 2.

It is expected to cause problems for 60,000 passengers over two days.

Ground services are also expected to be affected, with remaining flights experiencing delays.

And six airports are to be closed for two-way passenger flights – Joensuu, Kayani, Kemi-Tornio, Kakkola-Pietarsaari, Pori and Savonlina.

Other airports are still open Finlandincluding Helsinki Airport, warned of long lines at airport security, as well as the closure of some shops and restaurants.

The airline said in a statement: “The political strike will have a significant impact on operations at Helsinki Airport and on Finnair flights.

“Finnair company has about 280 flights per day in its normal schedule, so the vast majority of flights will be cancelled.

“Finnair aims to operate several flights during the strike and will communicate directly with those customers who have booked flights that will be operated.”

Finnair currently operates from London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh airports, connecting to destinations such as HelsinkiTartu and Tallinn.

Finnair flights at 10:20, 16:15 and 18:10 from London Heathrow in Helsinki is canceled tomorrow. Whether they will also be canceled on February 2 is not confirmed.

Manchester Airport10:15 and 17:50 in Helsinki not yet canceled on February 1 and 2.

The Finnish airline also connects the UK to other long-haul destinations with a stopover in Helsinki.

The website confirmed that “long-haul connecting flights from Helsinki on strike days will be diverted directly to their destinations”.

Affected passengers will be contacted by text or email and offered a new flight or refund.

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This is not the first airline that had to cancel flights due to a strike as early as 2024.

The Spanish airline Iberia was forced out cancel 460 flights earlier this month due to a four-day outage that affected 45,000 passengers.

Twenty-two flights to and from London Heathrow and Madrid were canceled at that time.

I thousands of flights to and from France have already been canceled due to the planned ATC upgrade.

Last year, it was confirmed that 16,500 flights would be affected between January 9 and February 14 while the airport's systems were upgraded.

However, it is possible get compensation in case of flight cancellationdepending on the reason.

UK law require airlines to compensate you if your flight arrives at your destination more than three hours late.

However, this is not the case if it is considered to be “causes beyond their control”.

This includes not only strikes, but also extreme the weather.

Here are five things you should always do if your flight is cancelled.