A five day strike by air traffic controllers in Portugal has been called off today. The strike, announced earlier, was scheduled to take place from June 29 to July 3, 2012, causing a number of airlines to reschedule or cancel their flights to Portugal.
TAP Airline, the national carrier of Portugal, has said in a statement, ‘The ATC strike, which was called for 29 and 30 June and 1, 2 and 3 July, and would cause major air traffic restriction in Portugal, has been called off.
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.’
The UK-based airline, Easyjet, has reported that, ‘All easyJet flights to/from Portugal will now operate as originally scheduled. Passengers who have received information from easyJet 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.’
Meanwhile Ryanair also commented on the event, saying: ‘Ryanair has been informed by Portuguese authorities that the planned air traffic control strike has been cancelled. All Ryanair flights to/from Portugal will operate as scheduled.’
