More than 200 Finnish tourists stranded in Abu Dhabi for over 24 hours

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More than 200 Finnish holidaymakers on a Finnmatkat trip to Thailand were stranded in Abu Dhabi in the Arab Emirates for over a day.
      The tourists' Bangkok vacation came to an abrupt halt before it had even started as their plane failed to take off again after a scheduled stop-over for refuelling.
      Initially it was fog - a common enough night-time phenomenon in Abu Dhabi - that prevented the aircraft from taking off, and then the pilots reached the limit of their working-hours, after which - in accordance with airline security regulations - they had to have a ten-hour rest.
     
The plane would have been able to continue its journey early on Wednesday morning at 1:30 a.m. Finnish time, but the Air Finland pilots, who are currently in the middle of collective bargaining negotiations with the employer, decided to start a so-called "list strike", which means they will not fly outside their normal shifts.
      "According to the present collective labour agreement, new shift lists have to be made available seven days beforehand. It is regrettable that the company’s timetables are for certain reasons somewhat upside down at the moment, but this is an industrial action", says AKAVA (the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland) lawyer Kari Eskola, who represents the pilots.
     
Air Finland chief executive Mika Helenius estimated on Tuesday evening that the passengers stuck in Abu Dhabi would be able to continue their journey on Wednesday morning.
      "We will try to get all the families with children on planes of other airlines as soon as possible, and we are currently looking for a replacement aircraft that could pick up the rest of the passengers", Helenius stated.
      In Bangkok, meanwhile, there are 219 holidaymakers waiting for the replacement plane to come and take them back to Finland.
      In Abu Dhabi, the Finnmatkat travellers, who had waited on the plane and in the airport lounge for 15 hours, were finally taken to a hotel, which was two hours’ drive away from the airport.
     
"In the hotel the atmosphere was somewhat more relaxed, even though we only received rumours from Finland of what was happening. We weren’t allowed our luggage with us, so I guess I have to go and buy at least a toothbrush", one of the passengers said.
      According to Finnmatkat and Air Finland, the communication problems resulted from the fact that neither company has representation in Abu Dhabi. The arrangements were taken care of by an Air Finland co-ground services partner.
     
Today at noon, Air Finland pilots will commence a 24-hour strike to speed up the negotiations. The strike will not affect Air Finland passengers, as the company has bought replacement flights from other airlines, Helenius confirms.
      According to Helenius the pilots have refused an offered 20-percent salary increase with extra holidays and additional days off.
      "The pilots have presented their own proposal, but so far we have not had time to get into it as all our time goes to straightening out the effects of the list strike", Helenius says.
     
The stranded passengers, whose journey to Bangkok was delayed by more than 24 hours in Abu Dhabi, will finally arrive in Thailand today just before 6 p.m.
      This winter's flights to and from the Far East have regularly been hit with delays, usually through technical problems with aircraft.
      A number of Finnair and TUIFly Nordic aircraft have been affected.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  More woes for holidaymakers as flights delayed (2.1.2008)

Links:
  Air Finland

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