Portugal December 11 Strike To Disrupt Flights, Transit

Published on Dec 8, 2025, 9:33 am CST

10 min read

Key points

Portugal general strike on December 11, 2025 will disrupt flights, rail, metros, and buses nationwide
TAP Air Portugal is cancelling most December 11 services and operating only a legally mandated minimum schedule, including limited links to islands and key hubs
TAP is offering free rebooking to flights within three days before or after December 11, but alternative capacity on popular routes is already tightening
Lisbon and Porto airports are expected to see most flights grounded, with Faro, Madeira, and the Azores also heavily affected by reduced operations
Public transport in Lisbon and Porto will run sharply reduced services, and Lisbon Metro may not have minimum services ordered for the strike day
Travelers with flexible plans should move arrivals and departures off December 11 or route through non Portuguese hubs to protect Christmas itineraries

Impact

Where Impacts Are Most Likely: Expect the heaviest disruption at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, Faro Airport, Madeira, and the main Azores gateways with most flights cancelled and only minimum services running
Best Times To Travel: Shifting trips to December 10 or December 12 and avoiding late night or early morning connections around the strike window will sharply reduce disruption risk
Connections And Misconnect Risk: Same day connections that touch Portugal on December 11, especially self booked or separate ticket itineraries, face a high risk of misconnect and forced overnight stays
What Travelers Should Do Now: Use TAP and other airline waivers to move flights off December 11, secure alternative routes through non Portuguese hubs, and lock in hotel and rail backup before inventory tightens
Onward Travel And Changes: Rework airport to city transfers that depend on Lisbon or Porto metros and trains, and plan for taxis, rideshares, or walking where public transport is reduced or suspended

Portugal general strike flights on Thursday, December 11, 2025 will disrupt travel across Portugal, with widespread flight cancellations, limited trains, and sharply reduced city transit in Lisbon, Porto, and key holiday regions. The walkout, called by union confederations CGTP and UGT, is expected to ground most services at Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS) in Lisbon, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO) in Porto, Faro Airport (FAO), Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport (FNC) in Madeira, and John Paul II Ponta Delgada Airport (PDL) in the Azores. Travelers connecting for Christmas trips should assume severe disruption on December 11 and look at shifting dates, adding longer buffers, or routing around Portugal entirely.

The Portugal general strike flights disruption on December 11 will sharply reduce operations at the main airports and city transport systems, which means many travelers will need to change itineraries, accept longer connections, or build completely new routings through other European hubs to keep end to end trips intact.

Scope Of The December 11 Portugal General Strike

The December 11 action is a nationwide general strike over proposed labor law reforms, including changes that unions say would make dismissals easier and extend flexible working in ways that weaken protections. It is being called jointly by the country's two main union confederations, CGTP and UGT, and is the first joint general strike of this kind in about 12 years, underscoring how serious the dispute has become for organized labor.

Cabin crew represented by SNPVAC have already voted by a large majority to participate, and the union has warned that it will be very difficult to operate flights on December 11, with only minimum services expected at Portuguese airports. Other unions covering airport ground staff, public administration, education, health, and municipal services are also urging members to join, so the strike's impact extends far beyond aviation into daily life in Lisbon, Porto, and regional centers.

For travelers, the practical takeaway is that the strike is not a narrow airline dispute. It is a broad work stoppage that touches flights, trains, metros, buses, and public services on the same day, right as many people are trying to position for year end holidays.

How TAP Air Portugal Is Adjusting Its Schedule

TAP Air Portugal has already begun a controlled wind down of its December 11 schedule, cancelling most flights for that date and contacting passengers with alternatives. The airline has said that, due to the general strike and in order to avoid disruptions, it is cancelling flights on December 11 rather than waiting for last minute chaos at the airports.

Under minimum service agreements negotiated with several unions, TAP plans to operate only a small skeleton schedule on December 11. Reporting based on those agreements indicates that the carrier will run three round trip flights to the Azores, two round trip flights to Madeira, and single round trips to a set of European and African destinations that include Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, Cape Verde, and Guinea Bissau, plus three round trips to Brazil and two to the United States. Trade coverage also notes that TAP expects to operate just 28 departures from Lisbon and one international departure from Porto under these minimum service obligations, underscoring how limited the schedule will be compared with normal operations.

To soften the blow, TAP is offering affected customers a free change to flights within three days before or after December 11, typically allowing moves into a December 8 to 14 window without additional fees, as long as seats are available. Changes can be made via the airline's website and app or through travel agencies, which gives both do it yourself travelers and those working with advisors some flexibility.

TAP has also blocked most new reservations for December 11 itself and is emphasizing that it will only run minimum services on that day, including guaranteed links to Madeira. In practice, that means travelers who still see December 11 inventory available with TAP or partners should treat it as provisional and have a fallback plan ready.

Airport Impacts In Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Madeira, And The Azores

At Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, most flights on December 11 are expected to be cancelled, with only minimum services from TAP and a sharply reduced schedule from other airlines. Foreign carriers are already trimming operations around the strike window, and airport advisories warn of longer waiting times and possible queues even for flights that do operate. Travelers connecting onward to Brazil, North America, or other parts of Europe through Lisbon should avoid itineraries that touch the airport on December 11 if at all possible.

Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto is also expected to see most flights grounded, with TAP planning only one international departure under minimum service rules and other airlines adjusting their schedules in response to staff participation in the general strike. Passengers using Porto to reach northern Portugal or Galicia should be prepared for significant disruption to both arrivals and departures that day.

Faro Airport on the Algarve is less reliant on TAP than Lisbon and Porto but will still be hit by cancellations and delays, since airport workers, ground handling staff, and some crews for other carriers are also covered by the general strike call. Holidaymakers aiming for winter sun breaks in coastal resorts should pay particular attention to flight status messages and consider moving arrivals to the days immediately before or after the strike.

On the islands, Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport in Madeira and John Paul II Ponta Delgada Airport in the Azores are part of TAP's minimum service list, with several round trips preserved to maintain basic connectivity to the mainland and between islands. However, services will still be significantly reduced, and travelers should not assume that an originally booked island flight will operate unless they receive explicit confirmation from the airline closer to departure.

Rail, Metro, And Bus Disruptions

The general strike will not only hit airports. Advisories warn that travel by air, metro, and railway across Portugal will be heavily disrupted on December 11, with extreme disruption expected for long distance trains, urban rail, and city buses. In Lisbon and Porto, this means that even travelers whose flights operate may struggle to get to and from the airport on public transport.

In the Lisbon Metro, the arbitration tribunal that decides minimum service levels has reportedly chosen not to set minimum services for train circulation on the strike day, which opens the door to full or near full suspension of metro services. Surface operator Carris and suburban rail services are expected to run only limited frequencies, and travelers should not rely on normal timetables for routes to Sintra, Cascais, or other day trip destinations.

In Porto, metro and bus operators are also preparing for reduced services, which will impact connections between the city center and Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport as well as regional trips around the Douro and Minho regions. For both cities, travelers should budget extra time and consider pre booked taxis or rideshares where legal and available, particularly early in the morning and late in the evening when minimum services, if any, may be thinnest.

Intercity rail run by Comboios de Portugal will be affected across the network, and international links into Spain are likely to see cancellations or short notice changes as staff join the strike. The safest assumption is that any train scheduled for December 11 is at risk, and that replacement buses may themselves be constrained by the same labor action.

Rebooking Strategies And Alternate Routing

Because the strike is pinned to a single calendar date, the cleanest option for many travelers is to move flights off December 11 entirely. TAP's waiver allows free changes to flights within three days before or after the strike, typically in the December 8 to 14 window, subject to availability. Travelers on other airlines should monitor for similar waivers and use them as soon as they appear, since alternative seats to and from Portugal around mid December will tighten quickly.

Where shifting dates is not possible, routing through non Portuguese hubs can reduce risk. Instead of connecting through Lisbon or Porto on December 11, travelers might rebook itineraries to use Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, London, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam, then take a separate leg into Portugal on a non strike day. This approach does introduce complexity, especially when it involves separate tickets, so travelers should allow long connection times and pay close attention to visa and Schengen entry rules.

For travelers already in Portugal during the strike, the priority is to secure at least one confirmed segment that gets them either into or out of the country on a date that is not December 11, even if that means starting from a different Portuguese airport or traveling by car or coach to a neighboring country. That might mean, for example, driving or taking a pre strike train to Spain, then flying out of Madrid or another Spanish airport that is not directly affected by the Portuguese general strike.

Travelers should also temper expectations about compensation. Guidance from passenger rights specialists notes that when disruption stems from strikes by an airline's own staff, passengers may be entitled to compensation under EU rules, but when it arises from broader general strikes and cross sector labor disputes, airlines often argue that the events are extraordinary circumstances outside their control. In practice, travelers should focus on waivers, rebooking, and basic care entitlements rather than assuming compensation claims will be successful.

How Long Will It Take To Recover

Even when the general strike is limited to December 11, its effects are likely to spill into December 12 and the following weekend, as airlines reposition aircraft and crews, clear backlogs, and fit displaced travelers onto already busy pre Christmas services. Short haul domestic and European routes usually recover first, while some long haul services may take longer to normalize if crews and widebody aircraft are out of position.

Travelers with essential trips in the days immediately after the strike should build in extra buffer, avoid last flights of the day for critical connections, and keep checking flight status in the 24 hours before departure. If a flight is cancelled or heavily delayed, the earlier a traveler moves to secure a new seat, the more options are likely to be available.

For a sense of how similar cross border strike patterns have affected December travel elsewhere in Europe, travelers can also review our recent coverage of Italy December Strikes To Hit Rome Transit And Rail, which highlights the knock on risks to tight connections when multiple transport modes slow down at once.