SAS strike rumbles on
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Swedish airline SAS has added further to the disruption in France. The airline prolonged its strike action into a fifth day, joining pilots from the Air France- KLM group in a dispute over pay and conditions that has hampered the start of the European Championships.
The dispute has seen the travel of more than 100,000 passengers affected, leaving many stranded as they attempted to get to France for Sweden’s opening game against Ireland that took place yesterday.
The carrier announced that 240 flights will be cancelled on Tuesday, bringing the total amount of scrapped flights to 889 since Friday.
The strike action has coincided with the opening weekend of the European Championships and the strike by the Swedish airline saw as many as 20,000 passengers stranded on Saturday.
The dispute is set to continue with the employers' organization saying that the pilots’ overall demands, would entail a 10% cost increase. SAS chief executive, Rickard Gustafson, said before the strike “We want our employees to feel secure in their jobs, but the pilots’ wage demands are just too high. We can’t afford to pay that much given that the competitive (air travel) market.”
Written By: Team Flight-Delayed.