SAS plans new company – the pilots are wary

SAS is considering whether a new aircraft type with fewer seats can be used where today’s aircraft are too large. The pilots will oppose the plans for a new company with a new pilot agreement

A future order may apply to 20 to 30 new jets with 120-150 seats each. The plan is for these to be used when the SAS Airbus A320 with 180 seats is too large, writes Dagens Næringsliv.

The need has arisen because the airline is getting rid of its Boeing 737 aircraft in the years to come.

The management of SAS will incorporate the new aircraft into what they call an “independent unit”, a separate airline. It is not known whether the company is to be owned by SAS or whether the aircraft is leased by others.

According to DN, it is clear that SAS chief Rickard Gustafson believes the new aircraft type must also be linked to brand new and more affordable collective agreements with pilots and cabin crew.

The pilot associations react strongly to the signals from top management. Christian Laulund is the leader of the SAS Pilot Group, an association of the four SAS pilot associations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He says the pilots do not know the details of the plans for a new airline. They will, however, oppose a plan whereby the jobs of today’s SAS pilots are transferred to other employees.

Gustavson rejects SAS’s plans to attack the pilots.

– “We will continue to develop our business with aircraft and crew in Scandinavia, and in a way that means that we can develop our core business in SAS,” he says.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today