EasyJet's five-day cabin crew strike in Portugal officially ends on Tuesday 6 October, but both the airline and the cabin crew union say knock-on disruption to flights, including Bristol Airport's routes to Lisbon, Porto and Faro, will keep being felt into the weekend.
The strike by Portugal-based cabin crew, called by the SNPVAC union over pay, rostering and working conditions, ran from Friday 2 October. EasyJet told the Portuguese news agency Lusa on Monday that it had originally been due to operate 786 flights to and from Portugal during the strike window, but trimmed that to 442 after preventive cancellations made before the action began. Of those 442, the airline said it expected to successfully operate 428, a completion rate of around 97%.
The union's figures tell a starker story about the flights actually affected by the walkout itself. SNPVAC president Ricardo Penarroias told Lusa that, as of Monday, the airline had cancelled close to 370 flights since 2 October on top of the 343 cancelled in advance, putting the cancellation rate for flights scheduled during the strike near 90%. The Portuguese outlet Expresso reported the same figure, citing the union.
Crucially for travellers, Penarroias warned that the effects of the walkout "should continue to be strongly felt until Friday", meaning disruption is expected to run three days beyond the strike's official end. Bristol is among the UK airports exposed, alongside Birmingham, Manchester, Gatwick, Luton and Glasgow, because easyJet operates Bristol-Lisbon, Bristol-Porto and Bristol-Faro services from its Portuguese bases.
The union also accused easyJet of running eight flights "illegally" during the strike by bringing in crew from bases outside Portugal, a complaint it says it has already raised with Portugal's labour authority, the ACT. EasyJet maintains it is operating within the law and using aircraft and crew from other European bases to minimise disruption, as it did during the strike's early days.
A second five-day strike by the same cabin crew is already confirmed for 19 to 23 December, in the middle of the Christmas travel period, with minimum service levels already set. The union expects a bigger impact than in October given the heavier festive schedule, though no flight count has yet been published.
For Bristol passengers, the message from both sides is the same: the strike's end date does not mean normal service resumes immediately. Anyone flying to or from Lisbon, Porto or Faro this week, and especially before Friday, should check their booking status directly in the easyJet app rather than assume a flight scheduled after Tuesday is unaffected.
What this means for your journey: if your Bristol-Portugal flight is delayed or rebooked at short notice, our /parking/ guide has flexible and short-stay options so a schedule change does not also cost you a parking booking.