Asked whether there could be another strike within the month, the union said only that "new measures will be announced in good time" and that no general assembly of its members is currently scheduled.


According to reports on Tuesday, pilots at a meeting on Monday discussed the possibility of extending the current strike, with action at the end of May or to coincide with June's national holidays (1 and 10 June).


Pilots are striking because of the company's alleged failure to stick to an agreement signed in December and another from 1999 that gave pilots the right to buy up to 20% of the shares in the event of privatisation.


The government is planning to sell control of TAP but officials have said the impact of the strike - which has already lost the company millions of euros in lost bookings and other costs as about one quarter of flights have had to be cancelled - could mean closing down the company.


Meanwhile, Portugal's Supreme Court has upheld the contention by TAP that cabin crew's 48-hour weekend break - as foreseen in the company agreement - can start after midnight on a Saturday, on the grounds that this does not bring into question "the normality of family relations". In the ruling, published on Tuesday in the state journal, the Supreme Court states that it is permissible for the company to delay the start of the weekend break by up to 12 hours.


The ruling overturns a lower court's decision in favour of the SNPVAC union, which had argued that "the real enjoyment of a Saturday and a Sunday together must necessarily start by midnight on Saturday and end at midnight on Sunday."


The company had maintained that the period could start up to 12 hours later, not least because the break at base - a minimum of 12 hours - plus two hours' transition, meant that a crew member would always be free in the period in question.


The Supreme Court's decision, which was taken on 25 March, cannot be appealed.