Finnair, Finland's flag carrier, has said on Tuesday that agreements have been reached to cut approximately 700 jobs by March 2021 and continue temporary layoffs for the majority of the company's employees in Finland amid the ongoing economic pressures put on the aviation industry by the COVID-19 pandemic
HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2020) Finnair, Finland's flag carrier, has said on Tuesday that agreements have been reached to cut approximately 700 jobs by March 2021 and continue temporary layoffs for the majority of the company's employees in Finland amid the ongoing economic pressures put on the aviation industry by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a press release, Finnair said that roughly 600 of the jobs will be cut in Finland, with the remaining 100 redundancies among employees currently based abroad. The flag carrier said that the job cuts will be implemented in full by the end of March.
"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," Topi Manner, Finnair's CEO, said in the press release.
Additionally, the bulk of the company's Finnish-based employees will remain laid off temporarily, the airline said.
Finnair employs approximately 6,500 people, although the flag carrier has established a support program to help staff retrain and gain skills for other professions.
"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," Johanna Karppi, Finnair's senior vice president for people and culture, said.
Many airlines across the globe have been forced to make job cuts after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic this past spring left almost all international flights grounded.
In the second quarter of 2020, the global aviation sector suffered a year-on-year loss in revenues of roughly 80 percent, according to data published by the International Air Transport Association.
