A six day pilot strike which affected 360,000 SAS passengers has ended with flights due to resume “as soon as possible”.
The industrial action crippled the Scandinavian carrier with 4,015 flights cancelled since last Friday.
Traffic disruption will continue during the following days while normal traffic is resumed, the airline warned. The financial impact has yet to be revealed.
The airline announced late last night that new collective bargaining agreements have been struck with four pilot unions to allow the resumption of services in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The strike was called off after parties in all countries reached three-year agreements.
The pilots will resume their work and traffic is expected to normalise over the next few days, according to the airline.
SAS President and CEO Rickard Gustafson said: “It is with relief I now conclude that our customers soon will be flying again and that we will be able to pursue our commitment to travellers to, from and within Scandinavia.
“The agreements between SAS and the pilots’ unions concern predictability of scheduling, job security and salaries. In addition, the previously cancelled agreements concerning collaboration and career paths have been re-introduced.”
He added: “The three-year agreements provide stability for the future and the terms of the Swedish agreement are on par with the industrial benchmark for the Swedish labour market.
“SAS operates in a highly competitive market and with these agreements we now need to intensify our work to build a long-term profitable and sustainable SAS.”
He previously said: “The demands made by the pilots’ unions entail significant cost increases for SAS that would threaten the company’s long-term competitiveness and consequently, the jobs of all SAS’ employees.”
The airline said it was too early to provide an estimate of the financial effects, but after six days of pilot strike approximately 360,000 passengers have been affected by 4,015 cancelled flights, while other employees worked around the clock to help customers.
” I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those SAS employees who have worked day and night to help our customers in this difficult situation,” Gustafson said.
More: SAS pilots’ strike grounds flights
