ANA refuses responsibility for delays and cancellations of TAP – Observer

ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal refuses to TAP to take responsibility for cancellations and delays, considering that the lack of punctuality of the companies can be caused, in particular, by "oversized exploitation compared to the fleet and to the crew "available

In response to questions from the Lusa agency, the official source of the airport concessionaire began by referring to" solidarity with the passengers victims of delays and TAP cancellations ", including TAP's situation with" growing pains ""

"However, we can not accept that TAP is blaming us for the delays and cancellations of its operation", added the same source, recalling that ANA manages airports, which by definition are "as such, can not, of course, create delays. "

" On the contrary, the infrastructure was penalized by the lack of punctuality and regularity of those who operate there. Airline delays can have several causes including, for example, an oversized operation regarding the fleet and crew available to carry it out, technical problems in that fleet or, finally, constraints to the fleet. airspace, "said the company, owned by Vinci since 2012.

ANA reminded that the capacity of the airport system is" pre-declared and shared among operators "by allocating slots and using this ability "is provided with" Very accurate and well functioning airports depend on a reasonable execution of this planning. "

" Of course, ANA can not be blamed for all the delays, let alone the hundreds of 39, cancellations in recent days, "said the same source.

The airline TAP had said Thursday suffer "serious damage" in its punctuality due to "gr

As a main airline operating at Lisbon Airport Humberto Delgado, TAP is so" the more affected by "

" These constraints and limitations of the Lisbon airport, as well as those of the air traffic control, worsened and caused Damage to the punctuality of TAP, causing significant delays in the 39; whole business operation ", according to the carrier, which considered this situation" very worrying and damaging to his plans for expansion. "

According to the same source, the complaints of passengers reflect these" disturbances, which are also added operational challenges "that the company hopes to solve quickly with the arrival of new aircraft" [19659002WednesdayinaparliamentarycommitteetheMinisterofPlanningandInfrastructurePedroMarquessaidthatTAP"suffersfromgrowingpains""Andrespondstooperationalinefficienciesincludingchangingthe"investigationprocess"

The Minister added that the carrier has created an internal structure to manage the cancellations and that the executive committee of the company has already transmitted to

Pedro Marques also quoted data from Eurocontrol, according to which half of the delays are due to the peripheral geographical position of Portugal and recalled the recordings of bad weather, strikes and manpower problems in s several companies

In addition to the complaints on the TAP page on the social network Facebook about delays and cancellations, a passenger explained to Lusa that she (Spain) "make stops between Belgium and the other European countries, between one and two, with the risk of being stuck on one of the stopovers canceled flights. "

In this regard, TAP indicated that in some cases it used partner flights through other European airports to deal with tourist traffic, airport constraints and air traffic control in Lisbon.

] About a week ago, Lusa had more than 50 cancellations at the airports of Lisbon and Porto, after the coordinator of the Union of Aviation and Air Transport Workers. Airports (Sitava), Fernando Henriques, reported that on the weekend of 23 and 24 June, the TAP had "more than 70 cancellations".

At that time, the company regretted the cancellations recorded on the night of June 25 in Madeira and Porto, listing "imponderable contingencies" such as bad weather,

"TAP regrets the cancellations in question, caused by a series of imponderable contingencies, such as bad weather in Porto, as well as works at the airport of Sá Carneiro, which forced the closure of the airport at night, "to which were added "the disruptions caused in air traffic by the strike in Marseille", according to the then, official source of the company to the Lusa

Currently, the state owns 50% of the capital, Atlantic Gateway 45 % and the workers the remaining 5% of the capital.

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