Lapland tourism crippled by Finnair strike

Businesses in Finnish Lapland on Thursday pressed for a quick end to a 10-day strike by Finnair that is keeping customers away from the Arctic during the brief but vital Christmas season. Skip related content

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"These two months (December and January) account for 70 percent of Lapland's entire income," said Timo Rautajoki, chairman of the Lapland Chamber of Commerce.

He added that even if the strike were to end today, losses would add up to five million euros (6.6 million dollars).
Finnair has only been able to operate around a third of its flights worldwide after being largely grounded by a Cabin Crew Union strike that began on November 30.
"We demand that the strike negotiations come to some agreement, because this situation is unbearable for Lapland's tourism and our reputation abroad," Esko Lotvonen, head of the Regional Council of Lapland, told AFP.
Even though some charter planes from Britain and Russia, for example, are flying Lapland routes, Finnair is by far the major conduit for travellers to isolated Arctic Circle communities.
"During the strike there should have been around 80 flights to Lapland tourist destinations, but we've flown only half of that," Finnair spokeswoman Hanna-Kaisa Nurmi told AFP.
Rautajoki of the chamber of commerce meanwhile said that the region's tourism had been starting to recover after crashing in 2009 due to the economic crisis.
But he warned that the strike was eating away at the gains that had been made by tourism businesses.
Jyrki Niva, the managing director of Lapland Safaris, said that his company, like many small enterprises, was having to cut down on seasonal workers as the customers suddenly disappeared.
"This week has been a total catastrophe for our business," he told AFP.
Niva said his employees were struggling to keep track of the customers that are getting through because many are being re-routed to other cities hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from where they were supposed to arrive.
"And now foreign holiday organisers are telling us that we're very unreliable as a destination ... it's upsetting, but we are so reliant on Finnair," he said, echoing the frustration that many people in the industry are having with the repeated airline strikes that have occurred in the past year.
A pilots' strike last December also stranded travellers during the crucial Christmas season, while travel was thrown into chaos earlier this year by separate stoppages by baggage handlers and airline mechanics.
"Our small business up here are living hand to mouth, this is terrible for them," head of the Northern Lapland Tourism Board Maaret Mattus said, adding that the strike was also scaring away future customers as this was also the peak season for booking holidays.
She described the past year's airline strikes as a severe blow to the small Arctic communities that build their livelihoods on the Christmas season.
"This is affecting everyone here, absolutely everyone," she added.