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Air France-KLM to buy almost one fifth of SAS

Air France-KLM is set to buy a stake of almost 20 percent of Scandinavian Airlines after the airline launched a search for investors to help it exit bankruptcy protection.

Published: 4 October 2023 05:58 CEST
Air France-KLM to buy almost one fifth of SAS
The Danish state will also inject more money into SAS, but the Swedish state has so far been unwilling to do it. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix/AFP

The group, along with the Danish state, will invest $1.175 billion in the airline, with Air France-KLM investing $144.5 million to buy the 19.9 percent holding.

SAS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, an option available because of its operations there, in July 2022 as it reeled from Covid travel bans and a costly pilots strike.

It also embarked on a cost-cutting plan and a hunt for new investors, saying in September that some had shown “substantial” interest in coming aboard.

“This cooperation will allow Air France-KLM to enhance its position in the Nordics and improve connectivity for Scandinavian and European travellers,” Air France-KLM chief Ben Smith said in a statement.

“Air France-KLM is determined to play an active role in the consolidation of European aviation,” he added.

In July, Smith also reiterated his interest in buy a stake in Portugal’s flag carrier TAP, which is being privatised after a rescue by the government.

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STRIKES

Swedish union slams Tesla for bringing in foreign strike breakers

Tesla is allegedly bringing in workers from countries such as the UK, Ireland and Portugal to fill the gaps left by striking employees in Sweden.

Published: 7 May 2024 06:35 CEST
Swedish union slams Tesla for bringing in foreign strike breakers

Twenty-four workers from other European countries have on 41 occasions since February been flown in to work at one of Tesla’s service centres in Sweden, reports trade union news site Dagens Arbete, citing public documents from the Work Environment Authority.

IF Metall, Sweden’s metalworkers union, launched a full-scale strike against Tesla in October, demanding that the US car manufacturer sign a collective bargaining agreement. Several other unions in Sweden have also launched solidarity action against Tesla in response.

The fact that Tesla is bringing in people from other countries shows that the industrial action is having an effect, argues Peter Lydell, an ombudsman for IF Metall. He criticised the company for using strike breakers, a practice that hasn’t happened in Sweden since the 1930s.

“Sometimes we see them arriving by taxi and carrying suitcases. Or they get picked up by someone at Arlanda and go directly to the garage,” he told Dagens Arbete, which is affiliated with but editorially independent from IF Metall and the GS-facket and Pappers unions.

It writes that strike breakers have so far been brought in from the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, UK and the Netherlands.

WORKING IN SWEDEN:

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