FINAVIA, a state-owned operator of 21 airports in Finland, has announced it will lay off 110 employees and continue the temporary lay-offs of other staff members due to problems brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The coronavirus crisis has taken a heavy toll on our company, and it is hard and saddening to make decisions like this,” commented Kimmo Mäki, the CEO at Finavia.
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“We will have to let go skilled professionals in the aviation industry, who have done a great and valuable job.”
Finavia estimated at the start of the consultative negotiations that it would lay off up to 130 employees. The number of redundancies, it stated yesterday, is lower than expected because it managed to come to an agreement on other cost-cutting measures with staff representatives.
The company said it has a tailor-made programme that offers supplementary training and entirely new career paths to people affected by the redundancies. It will also co-operate closely with private and public employment services operators in Vantaa, Southern Finland.
“We will do our best to make sure the people losing their jobs will find work, education or other new opportunities in life,” said Mäki.
Rationalising and revamping the organisation is necessary because the aviation industry is expected to take years to recover fully from the blow delivered by the pandemic, according to Finavia. The company is targeting annual cost savings in the region of 200 million euros with an extensive streamlining programme launched at the onset of the pandemic.
Airpro, the cabin crew and ground-handling subsidiary of Finavia, is additionally expected to reduce its headcount by a maximum of 350 following the completion of its ongoing consultative negotiations.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
