Monday flight disruptions and sold-out trains
The air traffic controllers' strike continues into Monday, causing further delays and cancellations across Norwegian airspace.
The state-owned airport operator Avinor, however, expects the situation to be easier than it was over the weekend, particularly following the serious disruptions on Sunday.
"Travellers must expect that things can happen at short notice today as well. We expect there will be some knock-on effects from yesterday, but we hope for a much better day today," Monica Fasting, communications manager at Avinor, told broadcaster NRK.
The ongoing flight chaos has pushed stranded passengers towards rail travel, causing train tickets, especially on the main Oslo to Bergen route, to sell out for the week.
Vy, the rail operator, said that they would like to run extra services in order to meet the increased demand but are unable to do so since no additional train carriages are available.
Norwegian vocabulary: forsinkelser - delays
New talks in the air traffic controller strike
On Monday morning, employer organisation Spekter and the Norwegian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NFF) met for further talks with the State Mediator.
"I hope we can sit down together and see if there is a basis for finding a solution to end the strike," Spekter chief Anne-Kari Bratten told Norwegian media on Monday.
The union representing the controllers also expressed a desire to talk.
"Dialogue is always the path to solutions. We look forward to meeting the opposing party and using our time well in dialogue with them," NFF leader Robert Gjønnes told NRK.
If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the union warned that a further escalation could take place on Wednesday, August 26th.
Norwegian vocabulary: opptrapping - escalation
READ MORE: How long could Norway's air traffic controller strike go on for?
Government proposes new 'hardship' pension supplement
The Norwegian government has presented details of a new "hardship" pension scheme within the National Insurance system designed to support workers who retire early after decades in the labour market.
Under the proposal outlined by the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion on Monday, qualifying early retirees will receive an annual supplement of about 34,000 kroner (0.25 Basic Amounts), on top of their standard retirement pension.
"It is good that more of us are staying in work longer. At the same time, we must ensure a dignified retirement for those who, after a long working life, still have to retire early," Labour Minister Kjersti Stenseng said in a press release.
Norwegian vocabulary: sliterordning - hardship pension scheme
Several public services unavailable in Norway
The Norwegian Directorate for Digitalisation (Digdir) announced that key public services, including ID-porten, MinID, and Altinn, experienced problems early Monday morning.
Digdir first reported issues at 3.41am on Monday. Disruptions continued past 5am before systems began to recover.
"Our IT operational partner confirms that this was a denial-of-service attack. As of 07.25am, systems are recovering, and users are increasingly able to log in via ID-porten," Digdir stated. "We are implementing further stabilising measures and continue to monitor the situation."
Norwegian vocabulary: Tjenestenektangrep: Denial-of-service (DDoS) attack – a cyberattack where a server or network is intentionally flooded with fake traffic. From: Tjeneste - service; nekt - denial; angrep - attack
Air raid alert in Kyiv during Støre's visit
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and other Nordic and Baltic leaders were visiting Kyiv when an air raid siren sounded across the Ukrainian capital on Sunday evening.
"We had a shelter right next door that we were ready to go to," the Prime Minister told NRK later that evening.
The alert was triggered by an incident on the outskirts of the city and cleared after 15 minutes.
Støre said that he had experienced similar situations during previous visits to Kyiv, calling the incident a reminder of the daily reality faced by local residents and staff at the Norwegian Embassy.
Norwegian vocabulary: flyalarmen - the air raid alert
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