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British holidaymakers travelling to Portugal may face flight delays and cancellations due to strikes by ground handlers at airports on the last weekend of the UK summer holidays.
On Monday, the Portuguese Transport Workers’ Union (Sttamp) announced a strike for all national airports that will last from “31 August at 00:00 until 1 September 2024 at midnight”. It is expected to cause significant disruption to airport operations.
The union warned of “severe restrictions” at key air hubs such as Lisbon and Porto, but said the impact of the strikes was “currently unpredictable”.
Workers at Groundforce Portugal (SPdH) say they will continue their strike until “current salary levels are reviewed” and working conditions are improved.
Potential passengers are advised to contact airlines such as easyJet, TAP Air Portugal, British Airways, Ryanair and Wizz Air to confirm their travel plans.
An EasyJet spokesperson said: “As our ground handler in Portugal is unaffected by the strike action, we are currently planning to operate our flight schedule as planned. However, we advise all customers to check the status of their flights on the Flight Tracker on easyJet.com for the latest information.”
A statement from Sttamp said: “In line with its responsibility towards all passengers whose journeys are scheduled for these days and who may be affected by this closure, Sttamp regrets that it had to come to this point, although we have tried in every possible way to find solutions together with the company that would avoid this outcome.”
“The full responsibility for this strike rests with Menzies management, as at no point did they put forward any alternative or proposal that could have avoided the strike.”
For Brits flying to Portugal, it is not the first summer holiday nightmare.
At the beginning of the month, EasyJet cancelled 232 of its 1,138 flights to and from Portugal following a three-day strike by its cabin crew.
Cabin crew at the low-cost airline in the Western European country announced a strike from August 15 to 17 at the end of last month.
“We regret that due to the unnecessary strike action planned by the SNPVAC union and in order to minimise the impact of disruption on the day of travel for our customers, we have had to cancel some of the flights scheduled for the period of the strike action,” the airline said.
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