OSLO (Reuters) - A strike by pilots at Norwegian Air (OL:NWC), Europe's third-biggest budget airline, led to some cancellations of domestic flights on Sunday, but long-haul routes to the U.S. and Asia were operating as normal, the airline said.
The strike, which started on Saturday after wage talks with the airline broke down, involves 70 pilots. The number of those striking could go up to 650 from Wednesday if there is no agreement, the Norwegian pilot union has warned.
"We are constantly striving to ensure that as few (passengers) as possible are affected by the strike, but it's not possible to predict how the situation will develop," the airline said in a statement on its website on Sunday.
"Unfortunately, some departures have been affected by the strike today," it added.
As of 1230 GMT, there were about 20 flights cancelled, including one flight from Copenhagen to Trondheim in Norway, and some international flights were delayed, the Norwegian Air website showed.
The talks between the pilots' union and the airline broke down after midnight on Saturday. The two sides failed to agree on a new collective agreement and work conditions.
The airline said it could not meet the pilots' demand to sign a collective agreement with the parent company, Norwegian Air Shuttle, instead of its Norwegian subsidiary Norwegian Air Norway (NAN), which employs the pilots.
It also said it couldn't accept the demand that Norwegian employment terms apply to pilots working outside the country as this could reduce its competitiveness.
The strike comes after the airline reported wider-than-expected fourth-quarter losses on Feb. 12 due to its fuel hedging, a weaker Norwegian crown and high costs.