Business

SAS files for bankruptcy protection as pilot strike grounds flights

Scandinavian airline will continue to operate while it restructures its finances

SAS planes grounded at Oslo Gardermoen airport as the airline filed for bankruptcy protection after pilots went on strike. Photograph: NTB Scanpix via AP

Philip Georgiadis
Tue Jul 5 2022 - 15:27

Scandinavian Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection as it warned a crippling pilots’ strike was deepening its long-running financial troubles. SAS filed for protection in the US on Tuesday, a process that will allow it to continue flying while it restructures its finances.

Shares in the group tumbled almost 15 per cent to 0.53 Swedish krona by late morning in Stockholm to take its losses for the year to about 60 per cent.

Anko van der Werff, the airline’s chief executive, said a strike by pilots that began this week had accelerated the decision to enter the bankruptcy process after it led to a wave of flight cancellations.

Mark Simpson, an aviation analyst at Goodbody, said about 30,000 customers were expected to be caught up in the strike. “The airline has warned it would struggle to rebook all customers on similar flights due to it being peak summer season,” he said.

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Carsten Dilling, SAS’s chair, said the board had concluded “legal tools are required to make progress in our ongoing negotiations with key stakeholders”.

The Swedish and Danish governments each own 21.8 per cent of SAS, but the government in Stockholm last month refused to bail out the airline. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022

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