TAP Portugal flygerne streiker

TAP Air Portugal Pilots Start 10-Day Strike

by Gregory Polek

 - May 1, 2015, 12:00 PM

A TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320 takes off from Zurich. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Aero Icarus)

Pilots employed by TAP Air Portugal began a planned 10-day strike on Friday, severely disrupting the airline’s operations and threatening to devalue the company as the Portuguese government institute plans to privatize it. The walkout, which stems from the pilots' demands for as much as a 20-percent employee share of the company’s capital upon privatization, would last until five days before a May 15 deadline for investors to submit binding offers for the company. The airline has offered employees a 5 percent capital share in the sale, and otherTAP employee unions have demonstrated against the strike. TAP Air Portugal estimates the strike could cost it €70 million if the sides don’t reach a settlement by May 10.

TAP said it had scheduled an average of 296 daily flights to operate within the next few days. However, it added, the actual number of services will depend on the number of pilots that join the strike. On May 1 it posted on its web site a list of 35 flights that will “almost certainly” not operate during the first three days of the strike, as well as a list of flights guaranteed to operate as part of a minimum service established by an arbitration panel.

The government’s first attempt at privatization failed in 2012, when the only potential investor not to pull out of the bidding—the Synergy Group–failed to offer what Lisbon considered sufficient financial guarantees.