Finnair cuts approximately 700 jobs, long-term temporary layoffs continue for thousands of Finnair employees

Finnair 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 corona pandemic. Due to the dramatic market changes caused by the pandemic, Finnair cuts approximately 600 jobs in Finland. The redundancies will be implemented by the end of March 2021. The co-operation process concerned all Finnair employees in Finland except for cabin and cockpit crew, altogether 2.800 employees.

Similar discussions have been held outside Finland, and redundancies outside Finland amount to approximately 100 jobs. In total, Finnair currently employs approximately 6.500 employees.

“I’m grateful that together with our employees, we were able to find savings solutions which helped us to save approximately 150 jobs at Finnair. Despite of that, 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. “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.”

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.

Support program to help re-employment

Together with many partners, Finnair has built a change security program called NEXT, which comprises of training opportunities, career coaching and re-employment paths outside Finnair. Finnair has developed the program in close collaboration with Public employment and business services, Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, City of Vantaa and with several schools and businesses.

“It has been great how smoothly and in customer-oriented way the implementation of the change security program has started, both with different authorities and with selected educational partners. Every player has been ready to develop solutions specifically for our employees, taking into account the employees’ current knowledge and its development. At this stage, I would like to thank all the partners for the expertise and co-operation they have shown in designing the program.” says Johanna Karppi, SVP People & Culture. “In addition to the usual work-to-work - placement assistance, we have been able to work together to build training and conversion pathways and measures to support entrepreneurship for those Finnair employees who want to expand their knowledge or consider becoming entrepreneurs.“