Portugal air traffic control strike called off
Posted Thursday, 28 June, 2012 - 11:24 by Rob Gill
A five-day strike by Portugal’s air traffic controllers has been called off at the last minute.
The strike had been due to begin on Friday, June 29, and run until Tuesday, July 3, but the industrial action was cancelled on Thursday morning.
Portugal’s flag-carrier TAP said in a statement: “In order to mitigate as much as possible the effects of this strike, TAP was already rescheduling its operation changing flight departures and also being forced to cancel several flights.
“Following the calling off of the strike, TAP will make every effort to reinstate its regular operation as much as possible.”
Easyjet, which had planned to cancel and reschedule some of its flights to and from Portugal, said it would now revert to its original schedule.
"Passengers who have received information from Easyet informing them that their flight had been cancelled due to the industrial action or that their flight would arrive/depart via Santiago or Seville are advised to disregard this information and all flights will now operate as originally planned," said the airline in a statement.
Pilots at TAP are planning to take their own industrial action in July and August in a dispute over pay. They also want to be consulted over the airline's impending privatisation which could lead to the sale of TAP to another major airline such as British Airways' owner IAG.
