Scandinavian Airlines operator SAS has come to terms with pilot unions to end a costly week-long strike feared to have cost the airline group £6 million a day.
A new three-year pay and labour deal will allow all SAS-operated flights throughout Denmark, Norway and Sweden to resume “as soon as possible”.
Pilots walked out on 26 April, disrupting 4,000 flights and affecting more than 350,000 passengers.
SAS chairman Carsten Dilling, Bloomberg reports, said the strike – believed to have cost SAS as much as £6 million a day – may have already ended the group’s chances of turning a profit this year.
The group confirmed late on Thursday (2 May) pilots would soon resume work with traffic “expected to normalise over the next few days”.
“The parties have agreed on new collective bargaining agreements and all flights in Denmark, Norway and Sweden will be resumed as soon as possible,” said SAS.
Rickard Gustafson, SAS president and chief executive, said: “It is with relief I now confirm our customers will soon be flying again and we will be able to pursue our commitment to travellers to, from and within Scandinavia.
“It is too early to provide an estimate of the financial effects, but after six days of pilot strikes approximately 360,000 passengers have been affected by 4,015 canceled flights, while SAS’s other employees have worked around the clock to help our customers.”