SAS Cabin Crew in Norway Strikes Over Wage Dispute

Cabin crew at Scandinavian airline SAS in Norway initiated a strike on Friday demanding better salaries and working conditions after failed wage negotiations. Approximately 120 employees participated, affecting a few flights. The strike could expand to include up to 800 staff by next week, causing massive disruptions.

Cabin crew at Scandinavian airline SAS in Norway went on strike on Friday to press demands for better salaries and working conditions after wage talks broke down overnight, and hundreds more staff plan to join the strike next week, labour unions said. About 120 SAS employees joined the strike on Friday, halting a handful of flights, but the number of staff on strike will rise to around 800 during the next week and could lead to mass cancellations, the two labour unions involved said.

SAS said in a statement that a limited number of flights were affected on Friday, adding that the impact on the group's ongoing restructuring process was not yet clear. "Our priority right now is to minimise disruptions to our traffic programme and support our customers with rebookings and information," the airline said.

An SAS spokesperson declined to comment on the plans to widen the strike next week. Norway's government-appointed wage mediator said he had been unable to bridge the divide between the two sides.

"There was no solution that could be expected to be recommended by both parties," mediator Mats Wilhelm Ruland said in a statement. At least 770 SAS employees in Norway will be on strike by Aug. 30 unless a solution is found before then, according to the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions and Parat, part of the Confederation of Vocational Unions.

SAS pilots and the airline's flight attendants employed in Sweden or Denmark are not involved in the action, but a strike could still cause disruption beyond Norway because crews are used across borders. Details of the unions' demands in the talks remain confidential, but union leaders have said that SAS cabin crew members are paid 15%-30% less than counterparts at rival carriers such as Norwegian Air.

"SAS was unwilling to meet any of our demands, leaving us with no other option than to go on strike," said Martinus Roekkum, head of the SAS Norway cabin association at Parat. In 2022 a 15-day strike by SAS pilots grounded 3,700 flights.

SAS filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on the second day of that strike after years of struggling with high costs and low demand, leading eventually to a court-approved takeover plan by hedge fund Castlelake, airline Air France-KLM, investment manager Lind Invest and the Danish state. "The company is in the final stretches of its reconstruction process and the effect of this strike has to be analysed," SAS said.

(With inputs from agencies.)