Bristol Airport is expected to see the effects
Bristol Airport (Image: Getty Images)
Airline passengers have been warned that a country is set to be hit with a tenth walkout of staff in 45 days.
More flights are due to be cancelled on June 17 and 19 at airports throughout Finland, with up to 64 UK flights affected by the disruption, impacting as many as 11,520 passengers.
The Mirror reports that Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) has staged strikes on May 2, 5, 16, 19, 30, June 2 and 4, with further action planned for June 17 and 19.
Fourteen direct flights (eight Finnair, four British Airways, one Ryanair and one Norwegian) and up to 50 indirect flights on airlines such as KLM, easyJet, Lufthansa, Air Baltic will be disrupted later this week.
Key routes affected include London, Manchester, and Edinburgh to Helsinki, which have 14 direct flights on the two days designated for industrial action.
Other routes with one or two stops include Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham, Southampton, and Leeds to Helsinki via Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Latvia.
Each strike day costs Finnair and Finavia (Helsinki Airport operator) between €10 to €20 million (£8.5 million to £17 million) in lost revenue, with wider economic knock-on effects on tourism and hospitality.
By the end of the summer, the sector could lose between €100-€150 million, according to air passenger rights company AirAdvisor.
Based on an analysis of booking trends, there’s a 7–12 per cent drop in UK bookings to Finland for the summer season, with passengers altering travel plans to alternatives like Sweden, Norway or Estonia.
Passengers caught in the middle of these strikes won’t see any EU261 compensation come their way; however, they still have a right to meals, accommodation and assistance.
If you find yourself snagged by strike woes while flying, do have a look at the guide on refund rights.
For those worried about getting tangled up in travel chaos, strike-cover insurance is up for grabs starting at just £20.
You can also keep an eye on flights in real time with websites like FlightRadar24, and sidestep Helsinki connections by choosing alternate routes such as via Stockholm.
Aviation boffin and founder of AirAdvisor, Anton Radchenko, said: “We’ve reached a point where UK travellers no longer need to be warned about Finnish aviation strikes, they expect them, which is a serious reputational crisis. For many Brits, Finland is no longer seen as a safe or reliable part of the travel map.
“These aren’t isolated events anymore; they’re stacking disruptions. Passengers are missing connections, losing confidence, and taking their business elsewhere.
“The deeper issue here is one of trust. Travellers don’t just book tickets, they plan around reliability. And what we’re seeing is a full-scale erosion of that trust.
“When people start rebooking through Stockholm or rerouting Asia trips via Frankfurt instead of Helsinki, the damage isn’t temporary; it becomes structural. Airlines eventually follow those behaviours, shifting routes and investing in more stable hubs.”
The IAU, representing ground handling, baggage, catering, maintenance, and customer service staff, has announced strikes due to pay disagreements with PALTA. The IAU highlighted that the average earnings of Finnair Group employees rose by 6.4 per cent from 2020 to 2023, while the national average across all sectors saw a 10.4 percent increase.
In early June, a spokesperson for Finnair expressed regret to the Mirror, saying: “We are deeply sorry that our customers’ important travel plans were disrupted.”
Finnair has been approached for further comment.