Norway ATC Strike to Close Oslo Airport for Five Hours Sunday

OSLO — Oslo Airport (OSL) will close to scheduled air traffic for five hours Sunday morning as Norway's air traffic controller strike enters its third day.

Avinor says the airport will close from 06:30 to 11:30 local time on August 23 if the walkout remains in effect. It expects major cancellations, delays and nationwide knock-on effects throughout Sunday.

Avinor confirmed Saturday that the strike remains in progress, while airline schedules for Sunday were already changing.

89 Oslo Movements Already Canceled

The five-hour closure window contains 135 scheduled movements: 85 departures and 50 arrivals, according to an Airways count of Avinor's live Oslo timetable at 6:11 p.m. CEST Saturday.

At that snapshot, 89 of those movements were marked canceled. The total comprised 68 departures and 21 arrivals, with 30 domestic and 59 international movements removed from the schedule.

Norwegian had the largest exposure in the window. Avinor listed 54 Norwegian-branded movements, 42 of which were marked canceled. SAS had 44 scheduled movements, with 26 canceled. Other cancellations included flights operated by Widerøe, KLM, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Air France, Finnair and LOT Polish Airlines.

Those figures are a point-in-time count, not a final total. More flights may be retimed or canceled as airlines rebuild their schedules around the closure.

Sunday was already expected to be unusually busy. In a June traffic forecast, Avinor projected 95,521 passengers through OSL on August 23, placing it among the airport's busiest days of the summer.

Disruption Extends Beyond Oslo

Saturday's effects were expected to build first in western Norway. Avinor forecast increasing delays at Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO), followed by major capacity restrictions and periods of closed airspace over the region during the evening.

Oslo's Sunday closure will affect later flights even after traffic is scheduled to resume at 11:30. Aircraft and crews assigned to canceled morning sectors may no longer be in position for subsequent services, while delayed inbound flights can occupy gates and disrupt turnaround plans. Avinor expects the effects to spread across Norway through Sunday and remain noticeable Monday.

The staffing shortfall extends beyond the airport towers. The initial strike removed 12 controllers working at Gardermoen, its approach control unit, Bergen/Flesland and the western Norway area control center.

Air traffic capacity is being matched to the controllers available. Avinor says search and rescue, ambulance, police and operational military flights receive first priority, followed by scheduled airline and offshore helicopter traffic.

No New Mediation Session Scheduled

The dispute remained unresolved Saturday afternoon. VG reported that no new mediation meetings were scheduled and that the two sides had not been in contact since talks broke down.

Norsk Flygelederforening says the dispute concerns working conditions and breaks. Spekter and Avinor dispute the union's account and say compensation was also part of the negotiations. Both sides told the Norwegian outlet they were open to renewed talks, but neither had initiated them.

The union has notified another withdrawal beginning Tuesday, August 25, involving eight additional controllers. Avinor says the expansion would directly affect Tromsø Airport and airspace over central and northern Norway, in addition to the airports and sectors already affected.

Passengers should follow instructions from their airline and go to the airport as normal unless told otherwise, Avinor says. Travelers can check individual services through SAS flight status and Norwegian's current operations notice.