Scandinavian airline SAS said it had cancelled 1,213 flights scheduled for Monday and Tuesday due to an ongoing strike by pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

SAS on Sunday apologized to the 110,000 passengers that would be affected by the decision and advised them to check the SAS website for details of cancellations and passenger rights.

About 61,000 passengers were affected due to Monday's cancellations of 667 flights.

The labour action since Friday has resulted in hundreds of cancellations and has so far hit about 170,000 passengers, including 98,000 at the weekend.

Mediated talks with the SAS pilot unions representing almost 1,500 pilots broke off early Friday without an agreement, triggering the strike.

Domestic flights in the Nordic region as well to European and long-haul destinations were disrupted.

About 30 per cent of flights operated by SAS subcontractors were not affected.

Mediators in the three Nordic capitals said there were big differences between the parties after the talks broke off early Friday.

Pilot unions and SAS said no contact has been made since.

 SAS pilots want compensation for wage cuts and other concessions they made in 2012 when the company was in financial dire straits.

More predictable work schedules was another demand from the unions.

In Sweden, the pilots requested wage increases of 13 per cent, while mediators offered 2.3 per cent, in line with general wage hikes, which the employers accepted.

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