Scandinavian airline SAS and the unions representing its pilots introduced at the moment that they’ve reached an settlement, ending a two-week strike that has value the troubled firm €9-12 million per day.
“After 15 days of strike motion, SAS and the SAS Scandinavia pilot unions have reached an settlement. The events have agreed on new 5.5-year collective bargaining agreements and SAS Scandinavia flights will resume their common visitors schedule as quickly as doable,” SAS mentioned in an announcement, following negotiations that lasted all day Monday and ended Tuesday morning.
“SAS pilots have taken the duty to signal a brand new settlement with SAS and the strike will finish,” the Swedish Airline Pilots Affiliation (SPF) mentioned in a separate assertion.
I’m happy to announce that we’ve now reached an settlement with the 4 pilot unions for SAS Scandinavia and that the strike is over,” mentioned SPF managing director Anko van der Werff.
“Lastly, we will resume regular operations and transport our prospects on their long-awaited summer season holidays. I deeply remorse that so lots of our passengers have been affected by this strike,” van der Werff added.
How lengthy have been SAS pilots on strike?
Almost 1,000 pilots went on strike on 4 July this 12 months. They have been protesting in opposition to pay cuts demanded by administration as a part of a restructuring plan to make sure the corporate’s survival, and in opposition to the corporate’s choice to not rehire pilots laid off through the COVID pandemic.
In accordance with the SPF, 450 pilots will likely be rehired below the brand new settlement.
The day after the primary day of the strike, SAS introduced that it was submitting for Chapter 11 chapter safety within the US.
Final week, the corporate’s CEO Anko van der Werff warned that the extended strike threatened “the success of the Chapter 11 course of and finally the survival of the corporate”.
How a lot does a strike value an airline?
Going into the tenth day of strike motion, SAS mentioned it had already value between SEK 1 billion and SEK 1.3 billion (€94 million to €123 million), with greater than 2,500 flights cancelled.
The strike has additionally had a “extreme impression on the probabilities of success” of SAS Ahead, the financial savings and restructuring plan launched by the corporate in February, Anko van der Werff mentioned.
“We at the moment are persevering with the essential work of taking ahead our SAS Ahead transformation plan and constructing a powerful and aggressive SAS for generations to return,” van der Werff mentioned Tuesday.
Journey chaos continues throughout Europe
The summer season is shaping as much as be a tough one for Europe’s airways and airportswith employees shortages affecting air visitors.
After quite a few job cuts linked to COVID airways and airports are struggling to recruit new employees in lots of international locations.
SAS, which employs practically 7,000 folks, primarily within the three Scandinavian international locations (Sweden, Norway and Denmark), can be searching for to finish a capital improve plan of round €1 billion to lift recent cash.
