BA, Other Airlines Hit By Finnair Strike - Union

December 7, 2010

A union of Finnish airline mechanics said on Tuesday it would not service aircraft of British Airways and several other carriers at Helsinki airport to help Finnair's striking cabin crews.

"There are about 10 airlines that will be affected, one of them being British Airways," Juhani Haapasaari, the head of the IUA union said.

He did not name the other carriers.

Finnair, Finland's flag carrier, has been forced to ground about two-thirds of its flights since its cabin crews launched a strike over wages and work conditions a week ago.

On Monday, the union turned down a new proposal by a state negotiator and no further discussions were scheduled.

Finnair, which estimated it was losing EUR€2.5 million for each day of work stoppage, said earlier on Tuesday it was carrying about 45 percent of the regular number of passengers and flew 30 percent of its flights.

It wants to keep the number of flights at the same level.

Other Finnish unions have said they would take other action in support of the cabin crews, including not fuelling Finnair planes and disrupting cargo handling.