Background information

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions, the volume of passengers has dropped significantly. These restrictions have had a significant impact on the turnover of the Finnish passenger airline Finnair. For instance, in September 2020 the number of passengers using Finnish passenger airline Finnair dropped by 91% in comparison to 2019. As a result of this, Finnair Kitchen, a company preparing meals for the flights has had to temporarily lay-off 500 employees.

Finnair has been active in terms of finding ways to compensate for the losses. In October 2020 they announced that they will bring pre-cooked meals to the shelves of the K-group, one of the largest grocery store chains in Finland.

The company continues to use their own facilities located in the capital region. As a result of the pilot, they have been able to offer work for 10 of the temporarily laid off employees. If the pilot expands to other locations, the employment effect could increase.

Content of measure

The initiative started in mid-October 2020 when Finnair Kitchen started to sell pre-cooked meals in a grocery store located in the capital area. Finnair Kitchen seeks to expand and start delivering for other grocery stores of the K-group. The meals sold at the grocery stores are similar to those usually offered for passengers travelling in business class.

This initiative has been welcomed warmly by the customers of the grocery store – the precooked meals are one of the most popular products sold at the supermarket. Many customers want to support Finnair by buying these the meals prepared by Finnair Kitchen.

Use of measure

In the middle of October 2020, Finnair Kitchen was able to offer work for 10 out of 500 employees as a result of this initiative.

Contents

• Other topics

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	Companies

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

No information available.

Views and reactions

No information available.

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 13 October 2020: The chef Tommi Soratie returned to the kitchen after a six-month layoff - the background is Finnair's brain wave that is about to unfold a big hit (Kokki Tommi Soratie palasi keittiöön puolen vuoden lomautuksen jälkeen – Taustalla on Finnairin neronleimaus, joka on paljastumassa jättihitiksi) (www.hs.fi)