After nearly 12 hours of mediation on the May 1st Labour Day holiday on Wednesday, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and its striking pilots still hadn’t come to terms. The airline thus cancelled 429 more flights on Thursday, ruining travel plans for another 54,000 passengers.
SAS had already cancelled 280 morning flights on Thursday but had hoped to be flying again by mid-afternoon. As talks dragged on with no settlement in sight, SAS management had little choice but to cancel Thursday afternoon and evening flights as well.
“There’s still a lot to discuss, we aren’t close enough to a solution yet,” state mediator Mats Wilhelm Ruland told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday night. He said there’d been some “movement” since the airline and striking pilots resumed mediation Wednesday morning, “but there’s still considerable distance between them.”
He refused to go into detail, but had told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) earlier in the day that the same topics were a matter of disagreement, including work schedules and pay.
“We will keep trying to find a solution to this conflict,” Ruland said. “I always have faith in a solution, but this is demanding.” Talks were due to continue through the night.
newsinenglish.no staff
