From the ashes of failed negotiations hope still flickers in the ongoing TAP pilots strike.
The first two days have registered a “low level of adhesion, thanks to the fact that most pilots turned up for work”, reports Saturday’s Correio da Manhã, and elsewhere both Sábado and Diário de Notícias have reported that both TAP management and the government are cautiously optimistic that the strike that threatened the very existence of the nation’s airline may well end up fizzling out altogether.
According to numbers coming out of TAP on Bank Holiday Friday evening, of 227 programmed, 155 had gone ahead. That’s around 83.3%, and above the “minimum services” already stipulated (see: https://www.portugalresident.com/tap-10-day-pilot-strike-confirmed-for-friday-as-%E2%80%9Cnegotiations%E2%80%9D-collapse)
Portugália airways, also involved in the strike, had performed less flights in their schedule: only 11 out of 59.
But the balance, this far, has been positive, with flights leaving Faro “almost unaffected” and the worst situations being felt in Porto’s Sá Carneiro airport, where long queues are reported.
Economy minister Pires de Lima has been reported as saying the “Portuguese people are thankful” though the pilots are not doing the government any favours, while deputy PM Paulo Portas has full much more fulsome in his praise, calling pilots “business savers” not “strike busters”, reports CM.
