Portugal air boycott

Press, 18 August 1981, Page 8

Portugal air boycott

NZPA-Reuter Lisbon Portuguese air traffic controllers began a 48-hour boycott of United States flights yesterday, but American aviation officials saw their militant action as little more than symbolic. The boycott, in support of American controllers on strike for two weeks, began at 1 a.m. (midday N.Z. time) and shut down the midAtlantic Azores control centre to flights to and from the'United States.

But the opening of extra air lanes further north and the rerouting of flights appeared likely to prevent disruption of traffic. Officials of the Portuguese Association of Air Controllers were not available for comment on steps taken to counter their action.

“All I can say is that the boycott started at midnight jGMT. My job here is that of a controller, nothing more,” a spokesman for the Lisbon control centre said. Aviation sources said the first flights likely to be affected were to and from the Iberian peninsula.

But airline sources said the daily flight to New York of the Portuguese airline, Tap, would be rerouted through Montreal. The mid- , Atlantic Santa Maria control centre, in the Azores, handles three to four flights an hour.' But officials of the Federal Aviation Administration said they would add three extra lanes, with a capacity of 14 flights an hour,, to the north. Atlantic route handled by Canadian controllers. They expected no delays. The 300 Portuguese controllers, in a militant mood, defied instructions from the International Federation of Air Controllers’ Associations to suspend any action until a general meeting on Saturday. But they reduced their boycott to 48 hours from the originally planned seven days.