Hundreds of SAS flights were canceled on Thursday due to a strike by pilots at the airline's major SAS Scandinavia branch, which overshadowed a traffic increase in June.

On Monday, negotiations between the airline and its pilots over a new collective bargaining agreement broke down, resulting in a strike that added to the travel mayhem in Europe and compounded the financial crisis at SAS, which anticipated that half of its flights would be grounded.

Tuesday, the financially ailing airline, whose largest shareholders are the Swedish and Danish governments, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. The initial hearing was scheduled to begin at 1400 GMT in New York, and SAS anticipated the process to last between nine and twelve months.

The airline flew 1,9 passengers in June, a 220 percent rise year-over-year, highlighting what it lacked in the prime summer season, as shown by Tuesday's traffic statistics.

FlightAware data indicated that 202 flights, or 66% of the airline's day total, were canceled on Thursday.

The Swedish pilots union reported that the pilot organizations had advocated making an exception for SAS for several weeks so that stranded charter passengers may be repatriated.

According to charter operators, thousands of passengers whose return flights were scheduled to be flown by SAS could be left stranded.

"Some of our destinations are inaccessible and lack other options for travelers to get home," the union said in a statement, adding that it was "a helping hand."

SAS did not respond to a request for comment immediately.

'Completely crazy'

Since the strike began, the airline's stock has lost more than a quarter of its value, and it has dropped more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year, as the Ukraine conflict disrupted Asian lines and the potential of a strike clouded the picture.

At 10:23 GMT, shares of SAS, which has struggled with a high-cost base relative to low-fare competitors, were down 4.1%.

SAS has stated that the strike will cost them between $10 million and $13 million each day and has accelerated its decision to seek bankruptcy protection, which it says will enable it to expedite restructuring plans, including the steep cost reductions announced in February.

The striking pilots have stated that they are willing to take a pay drop, but they cannot accept that SAS would hire new pilots through two new companies under circumstances that unions claim are worse.

Monday's talks have not yet resumed, despite unions' claims that they had provided concessions.

Keld Baekkelund, the chief negotiator for the Dansk Metal union, stated, "They should come back, it's completely crazy," adding, "It almost costs more to strike (for) one day than what divided us."