The strike comes just two weeks before the deadline for tenders to buy TAP expires. Industry sources say that at least one potential buyer has withdrawn its bid as a result of the action, which is expected to wreak havoc to travel in and out of the country for the ten days of its duration.
The action was called after pilots said the Government and the airline had defaulted on agreements made in 1999 and one last December, which had the immediate effect of averting strike action over the festive season.
Hopes that the Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union (SPAC) would reconsider were dashed earlier in the week when it said the action would definitely be going ahead.
Any last-minute compromise deals have also been ruled out, with both the Government and TAP saying no meetings are scheduled with SPAC, admitting that they are now bracing themselves for the impact of the strike.
But despite the hardline position assumed by the union, TAP has not cancelled any flights.
No flights cancelled, yet
The airline said in a statement that “flights are not cancelled. TAP will be permanently checking the possibilities to operate each flight, depending on the available pilots at each moment.”
This decision appears to be based on around a third of the airline’s 1,100 pilots expressing their opposition to the action. However, this does not necessarily imply that these pilots will check in for work.
The Portuguese Arbitration Court also ruled on Monday that a number of flights deemed essential be operated during the ten-day strike, with the possibility that these flights could be operated by pilots against the action.
Almost 300 flights guaranteed
Selected domestic flights and a limited number of international flights to former Portuguese colonies and destinations where large emigrant communities are based, such as France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, have been listed as flights pilots will have to fly to and from as scheduled.
In total, the number of flights pilots will have to undertake between 1 and 10 May comes to 276.
A full list of these destinations and latest news on the strike can be found by visiting: http://www.flytap.com/Portugal/en/Informationandservices/informations/information
But despite not cancelling flights until the airline can confirm which pilots have clocked in, it said that “all passengers have the possibility of changing the flights to alternative dates outside the period of the strike, without additional costs, or request the issuing of a travel voucher to use with TAP within a year of its issue.”
The chairman of national airport operator ANA meanwhile said he did not expect major disruption at the country’s terminals, but said that arrangements were being made to accommodate passengers left stranded by the action.
Ponce Leão said on Wednesday that the biggest damage caused will be to Portugal as a destination, with tourists perhaps reconsidering their future business or holiday plans to visit the country.
Last-ditch appeals
Economy Minister Pires de Lima appealed for “common sense to prevail” 24 hours before the action was set to start, saying that if anything had to happen to the airline or if it were forced to reduce operations, “pilots would be the first to find work elsewhere.”
He was speaking after around 300 TAP workers had staged a silent protest outside Lisbon Airport on Wednesday to draw pilots’ attention to the fact that their action could ultimately result in the retrenchment of those working in other departments at the airline.
Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho also launched one final appeal on the eve of the strike for pilots to reconsider.
“I hope pilots will carefully consider the consequences of this strike”, he said, adding: “The ten-day strike will have a significant impact on the national economy.”
TAP chairman Fernando Pinto, who revived the company’s fortunes to such an extent that it recorded five consecutive years of profits between 2009 and 2013, said the airline is now focussed on drawing up contingency measures as it has now accepted the inevitability of the action.
He also denied claims by SPAC that the airline had refused to reassess its position with regards to demands made by pilots.
“This is not true. Both the Government and TAP, sometimes together and sometimes separately, have made concessions on a number of points of order. We presented effective solutions, obviously within the law, which are possible to implement”, Fernando Pinto told a press conference.
Simple. Don’t privatise
Leader of the Socialist Party, António Costa, who opinion polls suggest will be Portugal’s next prime minister following the October general elections, said the solution to this labour unrest was simple.
“The privatisation of TAP has proven itself to be an enormous threat to the country’s interests”, reasoned the PS leader. He also criticised the Government for failing to accept alternative solutions other than the sale to private investors of the national flag carrier, a decision which was made following demands of the Troika during Portugal’s financial bailout.
The deadline for interested parties to hand in their proposals to buy the embattled airline is on Friday 15 May, five days after the end of the strike.