Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa) has announced that, owing to a protracted shortage of crew and aircraft, it will suspend its Helsinki Vantaa-Miami International, United States, service between May 4 and September 29. In the same vein, the carrier will also axe its Chicago O'Hare service albeit only for the month of May.

“We are very sorry about the disruption this is causing our customers, and we are doing our best to offer suitable alternative routings for them,” Juha Järvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Finnair, said.

With the bulk of its in-house A330 crews currently undergoing A350-900 type-rating, Finnair has been forced to lease in capacity to meet its longhaul demands. Earlier this month, Järvinen told ch-aviation Finnair would wet-lease an A340-300 to run its Miami route. However, with this new announcement, it appears a suitable capacity provider could not be found in time.

Despite the cancellation, Finnair said it would continue to offer Miami as a destination throughout the summer through its joint business partners American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth), Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas), and British Airways (BA, London Heathrow).