TAP cabin crew are on strike today and tomorrow, a stoppage called by the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) that still does not directly affect Madeira, taking into account that no connection has been canceled so far between island and mainland territory.
The strike began at 00:00 this Thursday and so far TAP has secured two flights to the Region, both from Lisbon.
The first plane (TP 1693) landed in Santa Cruz with a slight delay – at 1:41 am – while the second flight of the day (TP 1699) also arrived at 9:32 am. In the opposite direction, heading to the Portuguese capital, TAP has already established two connections at 4:36 am (TP 1690) and 8:05 am (TP 1698), preparing to make a third flight (TP 1696), also bound for Lisbon.
As DIÁRIO and TSF-Madeira have already advanced, TAP may resort to another company, in this case Portugália, to ensure all the connections scheduled for today and tomorrow, so as not to increase the account of the already 360 canceled flights and, at the same time, avoiding an increase in the loss that reaches 8 million euros.
The presumed decision could mean that TAP ends up not canceling any of the scheduled trips to and from Funchal in the middle of the cabin crew strike period. The last-minute resource deserves some criticism from the president of the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC), Ricardo Penarroias, the union structure responsible for the stoppage.