On Tuesday alone, a strike by Portuguese civil aviation
pilots caused the cancellation of 65 flights by TAP Air
Portugal, the country's biggest airline, company sources
were reported as saying by the Lusa News Agency.
Lisbon airport was the worst hit in the protest
called by the Civil Aviation Pilots' Union over
government plans to up the retirement age for pilots to
65 from 60 and cut pensions.
Around ten scheduled TAP flights from Oporto were
also cancelled in the stoppage that began early morning
and was scheduled to end at 17:00 local time. Before
reaching an agreement, unions had threatened that TAP's
500-odd pilots would stage a further strike on Thursday
and had another planned for this Saturday that would
have run from 4am to 5pm. The first day of industrial
action is so far said to have cost the company six
million euros and is threatening what appeared to be a
profit-making year.