HELSINKI, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Finnish national carrier Finnair announced on Thursday that it would cancel about 100 flights on Friday because of the planned industrial actions taken by air service staff.
The airline said that the approximately 100 flights account for about one third of its scheduled flights on Friday.
All of the domestic traffic, most of the European traffic and one long-haul flight (from Helsinki to Shanghai) operated by Finnair will be cancelled during the strike between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday.
Flights are also expected to be delayed, and the catering service for flights that are flown during the strike will be limited.
The cancellations and delays are the results of the prolonged labor dispute between the Finnish Aviation Labour Union (IAU) and the Association of Service Sector Employers (Palta) about the wages and benefits of employees of Airpro, which is a subsidiary of the airport operator Finavia.
"The cancellations unfortunately disrupt the travel plans of thousands of Finnair customers," said Jaakko Schildt, chief operating officer of Finnair.
Customers, whose flights will not be operated due to the strikes on Friday or possible strikes on March 14 and March 17, can either get a refund for the ticket or change their travel date until April 2 without extra charges, said Finnair.
The unsolved labor dispute has already caused walkouts at the Helsinki Airport in the past week. The strike affected airport security control and ground handling.
Negotiations to resolve the dispute failed on Thursday and will continue next Monday, according to Finnish media.
