Scandinavian airline SAS and unions are locked in mediation talks as a pilot strike that has grounded almost 400,000 passengers entered its seventh day on Thursday.

SAS has cancelled more than 700 flights scheduled for Thursday.

The pilots are seeking higher wages and have other demands. The aviation industry’s employer body in Sweden has said pilots demanded a 13 percent wage hike, despite what it called already high average wages of 93,000 Swedish crowns a month.

Analysts estimate the stand-off over wages and other demands by pilots in Sweden, Norway and Denmark could cost SAS as much as $10.5 million a day, threatening to wipe out the airline’s annual profit in short order.

SAS shares, whose primary listing in Stockholm which was closed on May 1, were up 8 percent on Thursday on the news of the resumption of talks.

More than 4,000 flights have been cancelled affecting some 380,000 travellers since the strike began on April 26.

 

Via Reuters