Pay talks between Scandinavian airline SAS and its pilots collapsed on Monday, triggering a strike that the company says puts the future of the airline at risk.
About 1,000 cockpit crew, who are pushing for an improved pay deal, are expected to join the strike even as the airline group seeks a financial lifeline.
SAS issued a warning that the strikes, which are set to begin as soon as possible, would be “devastating”.
“We will do our utmost to reach an agreement that is viable to secure the long-term competitiveness and financial sustainability of the company,” chief executive Anko van der Werff said.
Pilots have been fighting salary cuts demanded by management as part of a restructuring plan aimed at ensuring the survival of the company, which has suffered a string of losses since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.
As talks broke down on Monday, the airline’s pilot union said walkouts would begin immediately.
Last weekend, easyJet and Ryanair staff staged strikes demanding better pay and conditions.
The protest action is affecting the travel industry as it tries to rebuild after a cycle of Covid lockdowns that largely closed the sector.
A strike could cost SAS between $11.2 million and $12.6m a day, Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen calculated, and the company's ticket sales for future flights could suffer from passengers being deterred.
“A strike at this point is devastating for SAS and puts the company’s future, together with the jobs of thousands of colleagues, at stake,” the airline said.
About 1,000 pilots in Denmark, Sweden and Norway will join the strike, the unions said.
“We blame this on SAS," Pilot Group chairman Martin Lindgren said. "We have finally realised that SAS doesn't want an agreement — SAS wants a strike.”
The airline's stock plunged more than 12 per cent in Stockholm.
“This is very bad news,” Mr van der Werff said.
“How on earth is a strike in the busiest week of the last two-and-a-half years going to help us find and attract investors?"
The loss-making airline is seeking to restructure its business by undertaking large cost cuts and converting debt to equity.
It estimated the strike would to lead to the cancellation of about 50 per cent of scheduled SAS flights and affect 30,000 passengers a day.
SAS, which serves destinations in Asia, Europe and the US, last month averaged 58,000 passengers a day.
Union leaders and management have been locked in negotiations since November and the collective agreement between the airline and the SAS Pilot Group union expired on April 1.
Pilots were angered by SAS's decision to hire new pilots through two new subsidiaries — Connect and Link — instead of first rehiring former employees dismissed during the pandemic, when almost half of its pilots lost their jobs.
A strike would include all pilots from parent company SAS Scandinavia, but not Link and Connect, a union that organises the 260 pilots attached to the two units. Neither would it affect SAS's external partners Xfly, Cityjet and Airbaltic, the company has said.
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The%20specs
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The%20National%20selections
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
England 12-man squad for second Test
v West Indies which starts Thursday: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (captain), Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Jack Leach
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.
