SAS airplanes are parked at the Oslo Airport Gardermoen, as Scandinavian airlines (SAS) pilots go on strike, Norway July 4, 2022. Beate Oma Dahle/NTB via REUTERS
SAS airplanes are parked at the Oslo Airport Gardermoen, as Scandinavian airlines (SAS) pilots go on strike, Norway July 4, 2022. Beate Oma Dahle/NTB via REUTERS Reuters / NTB

Talks between airline SAS and pilot unions resumed on Friday as the parties seek to agree on a complicated deal to end a strike that the carrier says is threatening its future.

A majority of SAS pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway walked out on July 4 after negotiations over conditions related to the Scandinavian carrier's rescue plan collapsed. The parties had returned to the negotiating table in the Swedish capital on Wednesday.

"On some of the important points the parties are standing far from each other," SAS chief negotiator Marianne Hernaes said on her way into the talks, adding it was impossible to say if a deal would be reached on Friday.

SAS has been struggling with increased low-cost competition for years before the COVID-19 pandemic heaped pressure on the airline industry.

The airline said on Thursday the strike had caused 2,550 flight cancellations, affecting 270,000 passengers and cost the carrier between $94 million and $123 million.

The carrier cancelled 177 flights on Friday, amounting to 62% of those scheduled, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware.

SAS, which is trying to implement cost cuts and attract new investors, filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on July 5.

"There are several problems that need to be solved in order to get a solution," said National Mediator of Norway Mats Wilhelm Ruland, but he also said the parties had made progress since the beginning of the talks.

"We will continue to work constructively towards unity now but we are depending of movements from both sides," he said.

Shares in SAS were down 6% on Friday and have lost more than half of their value since the start of the year.

Pilots employed by SAS Scandinavia, a subsidiary of SAS Group, have said they would agree to limited wage cuts and less favourable terms, but SAS has said that concessions offered so far are not enough for it to carry out a rescue plan announced in February.

Unions are also demanding that pilots who lost their jobs during the pandemic are rehired at SAS Scandinavia, rather than having to compete with external applicants for jobs on less attractive terms at recently created SAS Link and Ireland-based SAS Connect.

Pilots at SAS Link and SAS Connect are not on strike.