However, despite causing less disruption than anticipated, the union representing TAP pilots have said they are considering holding another meeting at the end of the strike on Sunday to contemplate more action, possibly for the end of May or the beginning of June.
On Thursday this week a spokesperson for the airline told the media it expected to operate around 70 percent of the 300 flights scheduled for that day, a figure on par with estimates given on previous days.
The pilot’s strike action began on 1 May and ends 10 May, causing widespread disruption to thousands of passengers and millions of euros in losses.
“The forecast is similar to previous days, that is, the ratio between flights cancelled and carried will allow the company’s to keep its activity on a par with percentages of the previous days: of about 70 percent of flights,” TAP spokeswoman Lúcia Cavaleiro told the press at around 8.30am on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday night, Portugal’s Finance Minister announced that in the first six days of strike by TAP’s pilots, 70 percent of scheduled flights were carried out and 80 percent of people with trips scheduled for those days were transported.
António Pires de Lima addressed journalists at the Economy Ministry to bring them up to speed on the situation with the national flag carrier and the action, which ends on Sunday.
Pires de Lima estimated that, should the current operations be maintained, overall losses will reach €35 million.
He renewed an appeal for pilots to continue working to enable TAP to maintain the operating levels of the past few days, despite the strike.
The pilots called a strike for the first ten days of May on the grounds that the government is not fulfilling an agreement signed in December 2014, or another, established in 1999, which gave them the right to shares of up to 20 percent in the capital of the company under privatisation.
It is estimated that around 3,000 flights and 300,000 passengers will be affected by the action.