Finnair trains pilots to handle daily GPS interference over the Baltic

Finnair has changed how it operates and how it trains flight crews to cope with routine disruption of Global Positioning System signals over the Baltic Sea, according to its chief executive, Turkka Kuusisto. Technical crews treat the problem as part of their normal working routine, he said.

"Our pilots are, above all, trained to operate in airspace where we face GPS interference, because that is a daily problem," Kuusisto said in an interview.

Finnair has folded the management of satellite signal anomalies into its regular training programmes. Its operational experience in an environment shaped by electronic warfare has drawn interest from airlines elsewhere in the world.

European airlines flying near NATO's eastern flank have faced growing security challenges as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year. After halting overflights of Russian and Belarusian airspace, Finnair had to reroute its flights, increasing its exposure to the Baltic region. That area has been described as a focal point of electronic warfare.

Disruption to satellite navigation signals has risen noticeably this year. Poland's communications institute said in August that GPS and other satellite navigation signals along the Polish Baltic coast were interrupted on most days during the summer. The interference has grown markedly in scale since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the concentration over the Baltic Sea becoming particularly pronounced.