Speaking before mediation brought and end to industrial action, Finnair CEO Jukka Hienonen expressed alarm and frustration at the logic and impact of the pilots' strike at a press conference on 16 November. According to Hienonen, the fundamental issue was the right of the employer to decide how company-owned aircraft are used.

He said that the timing of the strike was inopportune:

“I am saddened and shocked at this sort of industrial action at a time when airlines the world over are struggling to survive. The pilots have rejected the third mediation proposal within the space of a year; Finnair would have accepted every one of them.”

“I hold the professional skills of Finnair's pilots in great esteem, but very few of them have any meaningful experience of corporate management. In my view, the captain decides what happens in the cockpit and the firm's legal governing bodies decide what happens in the firm,” he commented. Hienonen's comments were made on the first day of the two-day action.

STT
Matthew Parry – HT