Mediator expects Icelandair pilot talks in coming days

Iceland’s state mediator expects a meeting between Icelandair and the Association of Icelandic Commercial Pilots in the coming days, mbl.is reports, although no meeting has yet been scheduled.

State mediator Ástráður Haraldsson said there had been no meeting arranged between Icelandair and the three unions it has been negotiating with for months: those representing aircraft engineers, commercial pilots and flight attendants. He expects talks with the pilots’ association because Icelandair pilots working charter flights have announced strike action.

The negotiations have been slow and have taken a long time, Haraldsson said. He described a considerable gap between the parties, but added that it narrows whenever they talk.

Icelandair’s chief executive, Bogi Nils Bogason, and board chairman, Guðmundur Hafsteinsson, said in a statement over the weekend that the unions were presenting a misleading and unfair picture of the airline. Haraldsson said he remained hopeful that the talks would make progress.