65 Flights Canceled Due to Portuguese Pilot Strike

65 flights canceled due to Portuguese pilot strike

LISBON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — A total of 65 domestic and international flights by Portugal’s airline TAP Air were canceled Tuesday due to a strike by the company’s pilots who were protesting the government’s plan to delay their retirement until at the age of 65 from 60.

In a statement issued after the end of the first day strike, the airline said that among the cancellations, 51 were in Lisbon airport, 10 were in Porto. Many flights were delayed.

Tuesday’s strike, called by the Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union, began at 4 a.m. (0300 GMT) and ended at 5 p.m. (1600 GMT).

Thousands of passengers were stranded at the Lisbon airport, where they queued up for changes to flights of other airlines.

The pilots are scheduled to strike again on Thursday and Saturday this week, and on Nov. 5, 7 and 9.

Miguel Blanc, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union,said Tuesday that there would be no end to the pilots’ strike if there was no agreement between the union and the government on theretirement issue.

The government plan to prolong the pilots’ services until at the age of 65 is considered part of a national plan to hike retirement ages aimed at ensuring the financial viability of the country’s social security system.

Portuguese Transport Minister Mario Lino had urged the Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union to quickly end the strike as it was damaging the reputation of Portugal and its economy, and said the government was open to negotiations with the union, the Lusa news agency reported on Tuesday.

The strike had already caused a direct damage of 3 million euros (some 4.2 million U.S. dollars), said Paulo Campos, Portugal’s secretary of state for public works and communications.

According to a deal between the government and TAP, the airlineis targeting a net income of 38 million euros (53 million dollars)in 2007.

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