In a message sent to workers, to which Lusa had access, the manager recalled the difficult times of the last two years, in which the aviation sector faced difficulties because of the pandemic.

“In 2020 I asked for your trust and solidarity to guarantee, through a general collective effort, the maintenance of jobs, in order to protect our teams and their families and to recover when the context is more favourable”, he said.

“Today we can say that the efforts that almost all of us agreed to make, made it possible to avoid the most difficult situations that most companies in the sector are experiencing today”, he said.

According to the president of ANA, last year “historical levels of indebtedness were reached in companies” in the sector, and in order to “rebuild the company’s ability to resist crises”, the group decided to “launch the reform”.

“The objective of this reform is not to degrade the economic compensation of work” but, he guaranteed, “to better distribute the added value created, for the benefit of those who contribute to it and to allow this distribution base to be increased through productivity gains that can benefit everyone”.

The president of ANA acknowledged that actions such as suspension of the company's contribution to the pension fund, which had been criticized by the unions, can give the impression of "not considering the efforts made", adding that the objective is to “establish an open and realistic dialogue with the social partners” on the changes that it considers necessary.

“It is up to all parties involved to agree to define, through negotiation, a new balance that would allow for the resumption of certain benefits”.

Therefore, he said, taking into account that the efforts “are starting to have their effects” and the company “registered a slight profit in the financial year 2021”, the group is “now in a position to do so, while maintaining the necessary prudence, to share the benefit of this return to a better balance”.

“The Executive Committee therefore decided to award ANA workers an exceptional bonus in their April salary”, he said.