Scandinavian airline SAS has announced that it is canceling 1,200 flights scheduled for September and 500 scheduled for October. According to the concern, the pilots’ strike in July contributed to the reduction of the network of connections.
“The protest had an impact on our staff, causing holiday arrears,” emphasized Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji from SAS Danish office. She added that delays in the deliveries of planes to SAS Link are another reason for the problems.
The two-week pilots’ strike that ended in mid-July resulted in the cancellation of 3.7 thousand people by SAS. connections. It is estimated that the protest cost the company implementing the savings program 1.5 billion Swedish crowns (approx. 145 million USD).
As a result of an agreement with trade unions, SAS undertook, inter alia, to to be re-employed in five and a half years, 450 pilots made redundant during the pandemic.
Problems at airports and protests
SAS are not the only airlines facing strikes. In July in Italy there was a four-hour strike of air traffic controllers and the crews of several airlines, including Ryanair, Easyjet and Air Malta.
Recently, many airports and airlines have been struggling with serious staffing problems, which forced them to cancel flights. Problems in this sector are caused by the fact that employment has also been reduced as the number of flights declined during the pandemic. Worldwide, 2.3 million people have been made redundant, according to the Air Transport Action Group lobbying group, with ground handling and security checks being the worst.