‘Biggest airport strikes ever’ set to ‘significantly impact’ travel from tomorrow

Strike action by handling and assistance staff at all national airports will start tomorrow (1 July) and is set to “significantly impact” passengers’ travel over the coming days, with widespread delays and disruption expected.

The action is being called by three unions representing handling and passenger assistance workers at the country’s airports – Faro, Porto, Lisbon, Beja, Madeira and the Azores – and is being termed by the unions as the “biggest ever within the sector.”

Unions SITAVA, STTAMP and SIMAMEVIP said “the strike is against the liberalisation of the handling sector, against the low salary model, and precarious employment conditions which have dragged on from year to year at national airports.”

Strike action is due to start tomorrow, Friday, 1 July, and stretch over the weekend, finishing on Sunday 3 July.

A statement from national airport management company ANA –Airports of Portugal, said as the action is “expected to significantly impact national airports, we urge all passengers who have scheduled travel during that period, to contact their companies and / or travel agencies, with regards to the status of their flight, that they arrive at the Airport in plenty of time, given this context, also we also suggest that passengers check-in online and preferably carry hand luggage.

“Passengers wishing to use the Reduced Mobility service should book the service well in advance.”