SAS and its pilots will reach an agreement today, said SAS chief negotiator Marianne Hernæs before talks resumed this morning in Stockholm, reported DR.
“It’s enough today, because it starts to become irresponsible when SAS loses so much money,” said Hernæs. “As a negotiator, you come to a point where you have to realize that the battle is lost.”
Two-week dispute at an end?
The SAS pilots’ strike has now been underway for two weeks. The parties negotiated without breaks from Saturday morning to Sunday evening, Roger Klokset, chairman of the Norwegian pilot association, told the Norwegian broadcasting company NRK.
“We have been sitting for so long hoping to come up with a solution. But we got to the point where it was no longer safe to sit,” said Klokset.
SAS bleeding money
The precarious financial situation of SAS has apparently led to today’s push by the airline to resolve the dispute.
The day after the strike began, SAS applied for bankruptcy protection in the United States in the hope the measure would afford them time to undertake necessary restructuring.
And, according to a statement last week from SAS, the company has been losing between 70 and 90 million kroner every day since the strike began.
