MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

SAS back in the air after company reaches salary agreement with pilots

More than 4,000 flights didn’t operate stranding 350,000 passengers. Disruption included all long-haul services and many high-trafficked routes in Scandinavia

Scandinavian Airlines, SAS, and their pilots reached an agreement. Frequent travellers in Northern Europe are pleased to see the seven days walkout ended. The seven-day walkout saw more than two out of every three departures cancelled. 

More than 4,000 flights didn’t operate stranding 350,000 passengers. Disruption included all long-haul services and many high-trafficked routes between major Scandinavian hubs.

The agreement gives pilots a salary increase of 3.5% in 2019, 3% in 2020 and 4% in 2021. SAS chief executive Rickard Gustafson also explained that concessions were made on shift predictability and flexibility.

Pilots had originally demanded a salary hike of 13% to become competitive with other airlines.

The lost revenues will cost SAS more than US$ 50 million. The airline made a profit in 2018 after several difficult years, having barely avoided bankruptcy in 2012