SAS pilot's strike: Europe's travelers hit as an airline interrupting hundreds more flights

Scandinavian airline SAS canceled nearly 600 flights scheduled for Sunday, when the pilots' strikes entered its second day, and disturbed the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers.

SAS pilots quit Friday when bargaining broke down, founded around 70% of airline flights and hit around 170,000 people on weekends alone.

"We deeply regret that our customers are affected by the ongoing pilot attack," SAS said in a statement on Saturday outlining flight cancellations for the rest of the weekend.

"Because of the strike, another estimated 64,000 passengers will be hit when 587 flights are canceled across Scandinavia."

SAS has taken steps as offering free food to passengers waiting to find alternative aircraft at airports. The carrier, who is owned by Swedish and Danish governments, has said that it is prepared to resume negotiations, but warned that the meeting with the pilot's requirements would have serious consequences for the company.

The aviation industry's work body in Sweden has said the pilots demanded a wage growth of 1[ads1]3%, despite what it already called higher than the average salary of around € 8,700 a month.

The SAS Pilot Group, an association that represents 95% of the airline's pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, says that the dispute concerns more than just wages, and points to demands for more predictable and transparent working hours.

Analysts at Sydbank have estimated that the strike costs SAS 54-63 million per day, which would effectively dry out The airline's expected year's result was the strike for two weeks.

Strike on SAS does not affect aircraft operated by its partners, which represents approximately 30% of all departures.

The airline said it was s offering passengers booked on flights through May 1 to reschedule for free.