{"id":212421,"date":"2025-04-29T08:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/finnair-to-furlough-36-pilots-as-qantas-a330-wet-lease-deal-scales-back\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T08:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:21:13","slug":"finnair-to-furlough-36-pilots-as-qantas-a330-wet-lease-deal-scales-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=212421","title":{"rendered":"Finnair to furlough 36 pilots as Qantas A330 wet-lease deal scales back"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Finland\u2019s national carrier Finnair has announced an intention to furlough almost 40 pilots for eight months due to an internal labor dispute involving a pilot union. The pilots to be furloughed are all Airbus A330-rated but due to the scaling back of a wet-lease deal between the carrier and fellow Oneworld alliance partner Qantas, are to be stood down from September 2025 until mid-2026.<\/p>\n

Qantas has been using a pair of wet-leased Finnair<\/a> Airbus A330-300s to operate services between Sydney to Singapore and Sydney to Bangkok since October 2023 and March 2024, respectively. The aircraft have been based at Sydney Kingsford-Smith International Airport (SYD) while Finnair pilots based in Helsinki, flew scheduled Finnair flights to Singapore or Bangkok before operating the Qantas routes to Sydney and back.<\/p>\n

However, due to a dispute with the Finnair pilots\u2019 union SLL, which opposes the wet-lease deal and has been ongoing since the end of 2024, the airline is cutting back its commitment to the arrangement by reducing the aircraft deployment to just a single A330.<\/p>\n

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The airline states that industrial action is being brought by SLL members means that the integrity of the flight schedule being operated on behalf of the Australian carrier is being adversely affected, and as a result, the agreement is being reduced to just the one aircraft on one route. The flights are no longer being flown \u201cwith the reliability that is needed\u201d, according to Finnair Chief Operating Officer Jaakko Schildt.<\/p>\n

The wet-lease has appeared to be a \u2018win-win\u2019 for both carriers when it was first announced in May 2023. Finnair had found a use for two surplus A330s<\/a> in its long-haul fleet, which resulted from Russian airspace closures, and kept 90 pilots in work. Meanwhile, the Australian flag carrier was able to meet burgeoning demand in the immediate post-pandemic era by sourcing additional aircraft capacity in the short term from a Oneworld partner carrier.<\/p>\n

Cabin crew for the Qantas<\/a> flights were sourced from Finnair\u2019s other partners in Asia, while Qantas provided in-flight services and catering onboard to appease passengers confused by flying on a Finnair plane. Although the deal began well, industrial unrest soon disrupted the operation, with the SLL union instigating a ban on standby duties and overtime as recently as February 2025.<\/p>\n