SNPVAC said that in recent months "it has alerted the company to the need for a more equitable distribution of stopovers", reporting on several emails sent on the subject since October last year, according to a report by Lusa.

The union warned of the problems already visible in the May shifts, with "days of 11 or 12 hours, consecutively and, above all, in congested airports", adding that "the company applies an operational plan transversal to the network, forgetting the specificities of each airport or country".

"With no instruments that oblige the company to manage the operation better, or to use common sense, the warning issued several times internally seems to have had no effect", they lamented.

"At this stage, where the company is already facing disruption at the beginning of the IATA summer season, with several cancellations in the first week of April", SNPVAC said, "if there are no new hires, promotions to cabin managers, or planning to be eased" they forecast "a huge disruption in the high summer season, and the operation could even be compromised".