After 15 days of strikes and six days of intense negotiations, the pilots and SAS management have agreed. – It is clear I am relieved that the strike is over. But I dare not cheer until I get on the plane home to Evenes. That’s what Kolbjørn Hoseth Larsen from Stokmarknes says. For him and his family, the southern holiday did not turn out as they had imagined. Shortly after arriving in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain, the family was robbed of their holiday apartment. The robbery happened during the night while the family was asleep. – We first discovered that an iPad was missing. Then we realize that we have been robbed of a number of tablets, cameras, mobile phones and clothes during the night. We are talking about values for around 60,000 kroner, explains Kolbjørn Hoseth Larsen. A few days later, he gets tracking on his own iPad in Morocco. – It was a great experience. You feel very insecure after what happened. We are responsible for a number of children, and we think about the cases where children have been kidnapped. The flight was canceled twice on July 12. The family of seven people was actually going home with SAS to Evenes Airport. But the pilot strike put an effective stop to it. The day before, the flight was canceled. VOL.no first mentioned the case. Kolbjørn and Karstein Hoseth Larsen have shopped at the local supermarket in Benidorm. Here they have borrowed a holiday apartment from the local Rema grocer in Stokmarknes. Photo: private The family had to temporarily move into a hotel, while they tried to find other means of travel home. – I spent a whole day on chat and phone, without SAS being able to help us. The family eventually received tickets and boarding passes for the journey home last Sunday, but the night before, those tickets were also canceled. This is the conflict SAS and their pilots do not agree on pay. The core of the conflict is the creation of two staffing companies. During the pandemic, around 560 pilots lost their jobs. At the same time, SAS established two subsidiaries. They were named SAS Link and SAS Connect. These will take over aircraft and be filled with new pilots. The SAS pilots who were laid off during the pandemic will have their job back. They say SAS is trying to circumvent its obligations to bring the dismissed pilots back. SAS rejects this. They believe the company takes into account all agreements entered into. According to the pilot association, the pilots have agreed to savings measures that amount to 25 percent savings. In return, they will have an assurance that it is their members who get the new jobs that will be filled in SAS Link and SAS Connect. Hope to travel with SAS on Thursday Now the Vesterål family has received tickets with SAS home on Thursday. A plane they hope will actually go now that the strike has been called off. – There are many days until Thursday, but there is a lot that can happen before that time. He says they continue to check other possible travel routes home even though they have received SAS tickets until Thursday. Hoseth Larsen says he has not taken the chance to spend many thousands of kroner for airline tickets with other companies for fear of not getting the money back from SAS. – There have been very few airline tickets to be found. And the little we have found has been up to 90,000 kroner for our travel companion. Will take 2-5 days to get normal operation Hoseth Larsen is now waiting to see if the family can actually go home with SAS on Thursday, which is three more days. The company will get the planes in the air as soon as possible. But it will still take a couple of days to be in full operation again, news was informed on Monday. – Normally, it takes two to five days to get full production again after a strike, says Aleksander Wasland, leader of the Norwegian Pilots’ Association, to news. The strike has cost SAS 100-130 million Swedish kroner per day. Around 30,000 passengers have been affected by the strike daily.
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The Hoseth Larsen family hopes to travel home – news Nordland
