The cancellation of TAP group flights will have an impact estimated in the company accounts of 8 million euros.
The Portuguese airline TAP decided to cancel 360 flightson December 8 and 9 due to the strike called by the cabin crew, which will affect 50,000 customers and will have a financial impact of 8 million euros on the company.
The measure was announced this Wednesday by the CEO of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widener, who explained at a press conference in Lisbon that the airline could not wait to find out if the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) decides finally cancel the strike.
The SNPVAC has a meeting planned for December 6, which would leave only a two-day leeway for TAP to decide how to deal with the strike.
“If we don’t act now, doing it two days before (…) will have a great impact for customers,” said Ourmières-Widener, who stated that the priority is to “protect to customers”.
TAP had already recommended to its clients that they change the flights purchased for December 8 and 9 to other dates, at zero cost, a measure that 25% of passengers have already taken advantage of.
50 % of the operation cancelled
The cancellation, which affects 50% of the operation scheduled by the TAP group for those two days, will have an estimated impact on the company’s accounts of 8 million euros.
The affected flights had an average occupancy of 60%.
The CEO assured that, with this decision, they want to protect customers but also the image of Portugal.
“We have a duty to protect the image of the country”, defended Ourmières-Widener, and they prefer to avoid that those days there are images of chaos in the airports with thousands of passengers affected .
Even so, the TAP leader considered that the cancellation will not have as much impact on the company’s image in view of its reprivatization process, since it is not l the only European airline in difficulties and “it’s happening everywhere”.