Negotiators work round the clock to thrash out Scandi air strike solution

AILING airline SAS and pilot unions continued talks over new collective agreements yesterday after negotiations through the night, a union representative told reporters as a strike entered its fourteenth day.

Most SAS pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway walked out on 4 July after talks over conditions related to the Scandinavian carrier’s rescue plan collapsed. The parties returned to the negotiating table in the Swedish capital on Wednesday.

“We have been at it tonight and we continue,” Norwegian pilot union representative Roger Klokset said while on a break. Klokset said parties may have come closer to a deal overnight.

SAS, the main owners of which are Sweden and Denmark, has been struggling to compete with low-cost competition for years before the pandemic slammed the industry.

Pilots employed in the carrier’s SAS Scandinavia subsidiary last week said they would agree to limited wage cuts, but SAS said that concessions offered were not enough.

Reuters