Scandinavian airline: Cancellations will result from pilots’ union strikes

• Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) says its pilots are going on strike.
• The airline saw dozens of flights canceled Monday morning.
• About 30,000 passengers will be impacted by the striking, SAS estimates.

As the company had hundreds of flights being cancelled by that morning; Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced on Monday; that members of its pilots’ unions were going on strike.

With more than 120 flights already cancelled for the day; according to data from the flight tracking website FlightAware; SAS was the airline with the second-highest number of cancelled flights on Monday morning. Additionally, more than 20 SAS aircraft have experienced delays. Many of the cancelled flights were destined for cities in the US; as well as other countries.

“A strike now would be disastrous for SAS and jeopardise the viability of the business; as well as the employment of thousands of coworkers. Anko van der Werff, president and CEO of SAS; said in a statement that the pilots’ unions’ decision to strike now; “demonstrates irresponsible behaviour by the pilots’ unions and a shamefully inadequate; comprehension of the crucial situation that SAS is in.”

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The pilots’ unions and SAS initiated negotiations after receiving a conflict notice on June 9; however, the talks ended in failure, as reported by SAS in a news statement.

According to the Scandinavian airline, the strike will affect 30,000 customers daily; and cause the cancellation of approximately half of its scheduled flights.

The development occurs as the airline industry battles to meet consumer demand for travel; in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused reservations to plummet during the early stages of the coronavirus. During that time, some pilots had either retired or received furloughs.

By Saturday midday, hundreds of domestic, international, and transatlantic flights had been cancelled; and many more had been delayed. More than 150 such flights that were scheduled for the day have already been cancelled; as of Monday morning.

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