Approximately 900 pilots from airline SAS are on strike over a disagreement on wages and working conditions affecting 30.000 passengers each day in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and beyond: the strike is bringing chaos for travellers travelling the Nordics this summer (the first without pandemic disruption since 2019). Pilots are also striking because they are unhappy with the airline’s recruiting policy of pilots: priority is being given to hiring new pilots on cheaper deals in two subsidiaries (SAS Link and SAS Connect) instead of re-employing those SAS pilots who were laid off during cutbacks caused by the pandemic. One of the parties will have to compromise eventually, and the difficult financial state of SAS should make a difference, as some analysts predict that a prolonged strike could bankrupt the company. According to some estimates, the strike is currently costing SAS between 80-100 million Norwegian kroner per day: the 2019 pilot strike, which lasted for six days, did cost SAS 700 million kroner.
