– It must be difficult for SAS, says aircraft analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs at Winair, and elaborates:
– They must deliver in the negotiations with the pilots, but also with creditors and investors, and in the “chapter 11” process that the company will go through.
The airline has been granted bankruptcy protection, a so-called “chapter 11” – a legal process for financial restructuring under the supervision of a US federal court.
This gives SAS a little respite from current creditors. But:
– Then they must have a plan that makes it possible for the company to raise new capital, and for the creditors to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel here, so that they agree to convert debt into shares.
Never seen anything like it
At the same time, the pilot strike begins on day 12. And it hits the Scandinavian airline hard.
Elnæs states that he has never seen a similar labor conflict in Scandinavia.
– If we stay at home in Scandinavia, I think this is the most extensive and the most dramatic labor dispute we have seen in modern aviation ever.
– There have been major campaigns in Europe and North America before, but we have never seen anything like this here at home in Scandinavia.
“Then loses a hell of a lot of money”
Recently, aviation analyst Espen Andersen described the strike as a disaster for SAS.
– They then lose a lot of money into hell, and that in the time where they have to make a lot of money. It’s as bad timing as it could have been.
According to him, SAS can go bankrupt, even if they manage to resolve the conflict with the pilots.
In just under two weeks, the company has lost close to 1.3 billion Swedish kroner, the company states, stating that they only had around 8 billion Swedish kroner on the books.
More than 2550 flights have been canceled. It has affected more than 270,000 passengers.
–
