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SAS
has cancelled more than 1,200 flights since July 4 when talks
with many of its pilots over a new collective bargaining
agreement collapsed and they launched the crippling strike.
"What has now happened is that we have asked the parties to
gather in Stockholm from Wednesday," Swedish mediator Jan Sjolin
said.
Henrik Thyregod, head of the Danish pilots union told Reuters he
was certain an outcome would be reached but was unsure of how
long the negotiations would take.
"I expect to discuss ... a collective bargaining agreement so we
can get the pilots back in the cockpit and the passengers back
in the air," he said.
Spokespeople for SAS and the Norwegian and Swedish pilot unions
also confirmed the talks will resume but declined to elaborate
on the content or expected outcome.
The airline said on Monday it had informed mediators that it
wishes to resume negotiations with the aim of "reaching a new
collective agreement".
"SAS understands that continued mediation requires concessions
from both parties and SAS is willing to take its responsibility
in that process," it said in a statement.
BIG BUMPS The loss-making carrier has estimated the strike, now
in its ninth day, is costing $10 million to $13 million a day.
"There are some big bumps. But there are also a lot of things
that have been agreed upon. If they can use that as a stepping
stone to get the last things in order, then it doesn't have to
take long before there is an agreement," Sydbank's chief analyst
Jacob Pedersen told Reuters.
The striking unions have been angered by SAS' decision to hire
new pilots through two relatively new subsidiaries instead of
first rehiring former employees dismissed during the pandemic,
when almost half of its pilots were let go.
Pedersen, when asked about the biggest point of contention,
pointed to the rehiring and said pilots want to ensure that SAS
does not just create new subsidiaries after entering into an
agreement.
Having struggled for years, the airline on July 5 filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, a move it
said was brought forward by the strike. Flight tracking website
FlightAware showed that 190 SAS flights, or 61% of those
scheduled, were cancelled on Tuesday.
Shares in SAS, whose biggest owners are Sweden and Denmark, were
up 7.6% at 0925 GMT. Year-to-date, they have still lost more
than half of their value.
(Reporting by Victoria Klesty in Oslo, Helena Soderpalm and Anna
Ringstrom in Stockholm, Essi Lehto in Helsinki, Nikolaj
Skydsgaard in Copenhagen and Jamie Freed in Sydney; Writing by
Anna Ringstrom and Stine Jacobsen; editing by Jason Neely and
Kirsten Donovan)
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