25.01.06
Flights at Scandinavian airline SAS were severely disrupted in Denmark and Norway yesterday after pilots went on strike or called in sick, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
SAS said it had cancelled all but nine European flights from Copenhagen, after pilots called a lightning strike over plans to change their contracts. The airline said it had also been forced to cancel many flights run by its SAS Braathens unit in Norway due to a large number of pilots reporting sick. Sweden was not affected.
SAS estimated the strike would cost about 15 to 20 million Danish kronor (USD$3.28-million). 'But the highest price is the price of lost confidence. At first we had the weather, now the strike. It takes time to restore customers' confidence,' spokesman Jens Langergaard said. 'The pilots have not resumed work, and we don't know when they will be back,' he added.
The strike is over SAS's plans to alter pilots' contracts so they are employed by the group's national subsidiaries. 'Some pilots are furious that SAS unilaterally has decided to transfer them to national job contracts from the current Scandinavian contracts,' Mogens Holgaard, chairman of the Danish Pilots' Union said.
SAS said recently it was looking at cutting pilot numbers as it looks to slim down the company and return to profit. Earlier this month, Denmark's Cabin Union threatened a strike over SAS plans to employ Chinese staff on routes to the Asian country at much lower salaries than other cabin crew.
