Aircraft engineers’ strike threatens to halt all Icelandair flights

An indefinite strike by aircraft engineers at Icelandair is due to begin at midnight on Tuesday, with all of the airline’s flights expected to be cancelled, mbl.is reports. No meeting had been scheduled with the state mediator in the labour dispute as of Monday evening.

Icelandair said it had rejected a request from the Aircraft Engineers’ Association of Iceland to postpone the strike. The airline said the law did not allow a notified strike to be unilaterally postponed with less than three days’ notice, although the association had the option of postponing the action unilaterally on Saturday. Icelandair also said that postponement would only increase the parties’ losses.

The effects of the dispute had already begun to be felt last week, as tourism companies received a stream of cancellations and inquiries about refunds or changes to bookings.

The dispute was raised in Iceland’s parliament on Monday, when Independence Party leader Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir asked Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Daði Már Kristófersson about the government’s assessment of the situation, including the impact on state finances next year. She noted that the tourism industry faced substantial losses in revenue.

Kristófersson said the government was closely monitoring developments and would take whatever measures were necessary at any given time. He did not provide further details. mbl.is was unable to reach him or Infrastructure Minister Eyjólfur Ármannsson, Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, Social Affairs and Housing Minister Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson or Social Democratic Alliance MP Kristján Þór Snæbjarnarson for comment.