"For my part I consider the negotiation process is over," according to the top man at TAP who now will concentrate his talents on navigating his company through the strike period of May 1st to 10th.
"The negotiation process, for my part I consider finalised," said Fernando Pinto at a press conference today.
Pinto said that negotiations between the government, the airline and the pilots had been going on until midnight last Friday, but the attitude of the Civil Aviation Pilots Union was the same, i.e. it would not back down from strike action nor would the management and the government (which owns the airline) give concessions.
The president of TAP therefore has ended the negotiation period to avert a strike with four days to go.
"We started 2015 with a prospect of recovery and we began to see it happening, we were surprised with a new strike announcement," said Pinto.
"The company must face a standstill for ten days that will influence the annual results of the company."
The president of the Pilots Union accused the Government and TAP of being "completely inflexible" in the meetings that have taken place.
The pilots union leader, Manuel dos Santos Cardoso, commented today that "There are no negotiations. What we have are informal conversations where both the government and TAP maintained their stance and were completely inflexible."
The Economy Minister chirped up today to say how much he regretted the pilots’ insistence on continuing with the strike, stressing that Portugal cannot be held hostage to the unions.
"I think it's very important that the country is not held hostage by the obsession of TAP pilots," Pires de Lima told reporters.
Pinto said that there are pilots who are sympathetic to the customer and the company and will fly aircraft, “we already have confirmation of pilots that will do it."
The minimum service provision will ensure keep routes will have some sort of schedule and Pinto estimates that 10% of passengers will be able to get to where they want to go.
These obligatory flights were set this morning.
TAP announced today that for passengers booked on flights on strike days it will offer vouchers for later travel, or will switch passengers' tickets to another flight but will not be offering cash refunds.
Comments
Not just the actual days of the strike but people booking flights elsewhere beforehand and the days afterwards that need to be caught up.
Yet everyone knows now that TAP's days as the flag carrier of Portugal had been numbered for years.
Why else did more forward thinking national airlines regroup themselves and seek new revenue streams?