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Portugália, which together with TAP SA, is part of the restructuring plan presented in Brussels, is expanding and will contract. “There will be a reinforcement of the workforce and no worker will be fired,” said the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, in an interview with the program Conversa Capital da Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios.
The airline has around 700 workers and its fleet will increase from three to 26 Embraer. “It will need a lot of people,” said the minister, however, without quantifying the number, because, he said, it is not yet closed.
Portugália’s staffing needs, resulting from the planned future expansion, open the door to TAP pilots and other workers who, in the meantime, will be laid off. “Portugália is going to hire, there cannot be direct tickets, but let’s see if from a legal point of view it is possible to privilege the experience in TAP,” said Pedro Nuno Santos.
TAP’s restructuring plan, delivered last Thursday in Brussels, “incorporates a significant transformation of TAP’s operation, in order to guarantee the viability and sustainability of the company in the medium term.” The restructuring will force the closure of more than a quarter of the routes, the dismissal of more than two thousand workers and progressive salary cuts of up to 25% for the rest of the employees, whether they are land, crew or pilot.
In the interview with Conversa Capital da Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios, Pedro Nuno Santos revealed that there is a proposal from the TAP pilots union to increase salary cuts as an alternative to layoffs. “More salary cuts, fewer layoffs, yes,” he said, admitting to analyze this proposal and others that can be made. But he made it clear that the objective is not only to accept a salary reduction, because what TAP needs is to reduce the staff, which in the future will not be necessary. And if they are needed again, they can be hired again, but with less pay and fewer benefits.
“Exits allow future entries to be made at a different level”, both from the point of view of “salary and conditions”, he stressed.
Pedro Nuno Santos also said that he did not exclude that other unions and other areas of TAP could advance proposals identical to those of the pilots, although all have much lower salaries.
For the Conversa Capital program, Pedro Nuno Santos was categorical about the approval of the restructuring plan in Brussels: “I can’t think of anything else.” He hopes to have the plan completed in Brussels in February, which will be executed by the new management team. The selection process, in charge of the global consultancy Korn Ferry, is underway, but Pedro Nuno Santos preferred not to name names.
It will also be decided in Brussels that part of the 1,200 million euros, which the State has already advanced to TAP, will have to be returned and that part will have to be converted into capital.
EuroAtlantic CEO Eugénio Fernandes expressed his willingness to cooperate with TAP this Sunday. In an interview with Jornal Economico, the manager said that “a partnership between TAP and euroAtlantic would clearly be an added value for both companies.”
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