Embattled Carrier Struggles in Wake of Pilot Strike

Scandinavian Airlines—often stylized SAS—is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport-based airline is struggling to remain solvent in the wake of a July 2022 pilot strike, and has announced it will cancel some 1,700 flights in the next two months. The cancellations represent about four-percent of the carrier’s September and October 2022 schedule.

An SAS spokesperson asserted that the flight cancellations are attributable not only to the now resolved pilot strike, but to delayed deliveries of new aircraft.

Nearly one-thousand SAS pilots went on strike between 4 and 17 July 2022 in protest of pay-cuts imposed by the airline’s management as part of a restructuring plan allegedly undertaken to ensure the carrier’s survival. Striking pilots also opposed SAS management’s decision to not rehire pilots laid off during the COVID-19 panic.

Throughout its 15-day duration, the strike cost the embattled air-carrier between nine and 12-million euros daily. The labor dispute ended when SAS management and pilot unions agreed on a new 5.5-year collective bargaining agreement under which 450 furloughed SAS pilots will be rehired.

Swedish Airline Pilots Association managing director Anko van der Werff stated: "I am pleased to announce that we have now reached an agreement with the four pilot unions for SAS Scandinavia and that the strike is over. Finally, we can resume normal operations and transport our customers on their long-awaited summer holidays. I deeply regret that so many of our passengers have been affected by this strike."

Regrettably, the day after the strike commenced, SAS announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. The airline has since secured bridge financing through a deal with U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

By the strike’s tenth day, SAS reported more than 2,500 flights canceled and losses of between one and 1.3-billion Swedish krona ($93.38-million to $121.4-million).

Mr. van der Werff added: "We are now continuing the important work of taking forward our SAS Forward [sic] transformation plan and building a strong and competitive SAS for generations to come.”

FMI: www.flysas.com