The stoppage of flight traffic caused by the ash cloud is an unprecedentedly exceptional situation for Finnair. The most important priorities for Finnair are safety and its customers, whom the company is doing its best to care for in these circumstances. Some passengers will fly today from New York to Finland and from Finland to New York, and a part of customers stranded in Helsinki will be taken by ship and bus to Berlin.
- Our flight traffic has never before been halted for three days. The situation for us is totally exceptional. The journeys of 100,000 of our customers have been cancelled and around 15,000 passengers have not yet been able to return home, says Finnair’s President & CEO Mika Vehviläinen.
- Our most important priorities are safety and our customers. In this situation, it is the civil aviation authorities who decide when and where we can fly. We are caring for our customers the best that we can in these circumstances and are helping them, for example, with accommodation arrangements and alternative travel plans, emphasises Vehviläinen.
Finnair’s flight from New York arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa today at 16.41. On the flight from New York to Helsinki a total of 133 passengers arrived who managed to catch the flight at short notice.
In addition, Finnair is arranging alternative transport for European passengers stranded in Helsinki, by ship and bus from Helsinki via Tallinn to Berlin, today and tomorrow. The ship will depart to Tallinn from Helsinki at 21.30 on both days. The travel route is from Helsinki to Tallinn by ship and from Tallinn to Berlin by bus.
Passengers whose flights have been cancelled may transfer their journey to a later date by contacting Finnair or the travel agency that sold their ticket. Passengers can also apply for a refund for Finnair flight tickets that remain unused due to cancellations. A refund can also be applied for in the case of flights that have not been cancelled whose depart date is on or before 25 April
2010. Customers are advised not to come to the airport if their flight has been cancelled.
Aurinkomatkat-Suntours’ customers have been transported from Spanish islands to Malaga and Jerez in continental Spain and from Malta and Rhodes to Rome, from where it will be easier for the passengers to be repatriated.
At Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Finnair personnel will assist the company’s passengers, for example, in booking accommodation and by offering food and beverages.
Information is being updated continually at the address www.finnair.com/info.
Finnair is also providing service to customers on the telephone numbers +358 10 808 045 and +358 600 140 140.
Finnair will arrange a press conference for median representatives daily until Friday, at 14.00 on the 13th floor of the Helsinki-Vantaa office tower at the address Lentäjäntie 3, Vantaa.
Finnair Plc
Communications
19.4.2010
