SAS Files Chapter 11
#1
Gets Weekends Off
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SAS Files Chapter 11
SAS has formally filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy today through the U.S. court system. Even though a foreign company, as long as they have an official office within the United States, they can avail themselves of the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. SAS has been hampered by a high cost structure and yesterday the pilots of SAS Scandinavia (as opposed to the pilots of SAS Connect, SAS Link, and the affiliate companies such as Cityjet) went on strike.
https://live.euronext.com/en/node/11066450
https://live.euronext.com/en/node/11066450
#2
I saw today that after the 15 day strike, the pilots and company reached an agreement. The article I read didn't have much in the way of details; it only said the company agreed to rehire the furloughed pilots back to mainline. What else is in the deal?
#3
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*(SAS Connect is formerly SAS Ireland. Crews based in LHR are employed by CAE on a contract basis. SAS Connect crews based in CPH and ARN are employed by the SAS group and are now brought fully in to the SAS pilot group. LHR crews will not be covered under the agreement, and cannot bid across all SAS group flying.)
Last edited by ObadiahDogberry; 07-22-2022 at 03:07 AM.
#4
All pilots employed at SAS, SAS Connect*, and SAS Link, are now integrated in to the SAS seniority list and covered under the new SPG agreement. Pilots across all platforms will now be able to bid all available positions within all three companies based on systemwide seniority. The remaining unemployed SAS pilots will now be offered available positions within either of the three companies, and be covered under the one union agreement. More details expected within a few days as the agreement is not official until voted on by the four unions which make up the SAS Pilot Group.
*(SAS Connect is formerly SAS Ireland. Crews based in LHR are employed by CAE on a contract basis. SAS Connect crews based in CPH and ARN are employed by the SAS group and are now brought fully in to the SAS pilot group. LHR crews will not be covered under the agreement, and cannot bid across all SAS group flying.)
*(SAS Connect is formerly SAS Ireland. Crews based in LHR are employed by CAE on a contract basis. SAS Connect crews based in CPH and ARN are employed by the SAS group and are now brought fully in to the SAS pilot group. LHR crews will not be covered under the agreement, and cannot bid across all SAS group flying.)
What about pay and QOL?
#5
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Regarding full terms and conditions, the unions will put out all details next week so members can vote. But what has been divulged so far is that there is an across the board 5% pay cut for all pilots, but with increases in production allowed by the CBA, it can effectively be up to a 25% pay cut. It also introduces pretty severe restrictions on summer vacation. For the SAS Main pilots, this new CBA represents worse terms and conditions. For the pilots at SAS Connect and SAS Link, this generally represents an improvement in terms and conditions.
SAS has been in pretty significant trouble for several years now, hence the chapter 11 filing. Like many of the European legacy airlines, they existed for most of their history as monopolies, and developed a very bloated and top heavy corporate structure. SAS has been kind of a late comer to feeling the pressure from outside competition from other airlines, particularly the LCCs. But over the past decade, the competition within Scandinavia has increased dramatically. Norwegian has grown significantly in Oslo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, and then its long haul experiment really hurt SAS. Although long haul is gone, Norwegian is still a sizable and formidable competitor for SAS within the European short haul market. Stockholm has been particularly difficult, with Ryanair expanding rapidly over the last few years, and Finnair setting up a secondary hub in Stockholm, even with long haul flights. Eurowings has also expanded rapidly in Stockholm and has launched a large recruitment campaign. So SAS needs a major overhaul if it is going to survive.
Last edited by ObadiahDogberry; 07-22-2022 at 11:36 PM.
#6
In a land of unicorns
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SAS is headed down the same path Alitalia did. Their hub structure is extremely inefficient and they need to do some serious reimagining if they want to survive without government help.
"Run by the Swedes, funded by Norwegians, to benefit the Danish".
"Run by the Swedes, funded by Norwegians, to benefit the Danish".
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