Air traffic at Oslo Airport Gardermoen was all but halted on Sunday morning as a Norwegian air traffic controller strike continued. Flights between Copenhagen and Oslo were among those cancelled.
DR reports that Gardermoen was close to shut down for air traffic on the morning of Sunday, August 23. On the website of airport operator Avinor, nearly all departures from just after 6 a.m. until 11 a.m. were listed as cancelled.
The disruption also hit routes to and from Denmark, including services between Copenhagen and Oslo. The strike began on Friday, after negotiations between the air traffic controllers’ union Norsk Flygelederforening and the employers’ organization Spekter broke down. Twelve controllers were taken out on strike.
Avinor stated in its strike guidance that Oslo Airport would be closed to traffic from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. The operator also warned of large delays, cancellations and knock-on effects throughout the day.
According to Avinor figures cited by Sol.no, 147 of 346 scheduled departures from Gardermoen were marked as cancelled. The same outlet, summarizing NRK, put the number of affected passengers at around 9,000.
The airline Norwegian told NRK that about 9,000 of its own passengers would be affected by its cancellations on Sunday. Per VG, the company’s press officer Lina Lindegaard Carlsen said Norwegian was doing everything it could, but that delays should also be expected after Sunday.
The strike is not limited to Oslo. Bergen Airport Flesland was also affected, and Avinor’s communications chief, Cathrine Fuglesang Framholt, estimated that between 300 and 400 people would have to spend the night there, according to Norwegian newspaper BT as cited by VG.
Route traffic at Flesland was closed between 6:45 p.m. and 10:20 p.m. on Saturday. Camp beds were set up and water, blankets and sleeping bags were handed out, because hotels in Bergen were largely full. Sol.no reports that airspace over Flesland and Stavanger/Sola was closed for regular route traffic during those hours.
What is behind the conflict
VG reports that the dispute centers on working conditions and break arrangements rather than pay levels, according to the leadership of Norsk Flygelederforening. The parties remained far apart going into the weekend.
Avinor said in a press release on August 21 that the five-hour closure of Gardermoen on Sunday would follow if the strike continued, and that consequences for air traffic across Norway would be significant in the coming days. Danish aviation site Check-in.dk reported that cancellations and delays on routes to and from abroad, including Denmark, were expected to continue into Monday.
