ZANDERIJ – A strike by the union representing the staff of the Surinamese Airline Company (SLM) led to enormous chaos at the Johan Adolf Pengel airport in Paramaribo on Friday.

Due to the strike of the staff, who are also responsible for the handling at the airport of other companies, led to significant delays and also some cancellations. The SLM itself and KLM, among others, were seriously affected by the action.

Airlines FlyAlways and COPA Airlines handled their own flights and thus managed to limit the damage somewhat.

Exchange rate

Although there is more dissatisfaction among the staff of the SLM, the strike was mainly due to the exchange rate that the airline converts when exchanging the Surinamese Dollar (SRD) against the US dollar, when it comes to the various fees.

The SLM uses a unilaterally set rate of 23.50 SRS for 1 US dollar, while that rate on the black market is already almost 40 SRD per US dollar.