Spanish air strikes
NEW
Airport authority Aena appear to have reached a preliminary agreement with trade unions and the proposed air strikes have been called off. Valid until December 2018, the agrrement includes steps to protect the staff employed by the airports. However, damage has already been done, with a steep decrease in flight bookings to Spain this summer.
Spanish unions are threatening 22 days of strikes starting just before Easter and continuing until August, brought on amongst other things by the policy of privatisation of airport infrastructure adopted in December 2010 by prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
The unions have called on firemen, baggage handlers, and office staff amongst others.
The International Air Transport Association, representing scheduled airlines, said that such a strike could well have a knock-on effect in other countries. Any flights that have to cross Spanish air space, such as Portugal and Morocco are very likely to be effected also.
According to WhichBudget.com, since the strike announcement there has been an 18% fall in overall flight searches to Spain, whilst Greece searches were up by 65%, Turkey up by 55%, Italy by 28% and France by 18% – all bad news for Spanish tourism so it is hoped that some compromise can be reached beforehand.
Dates put forward for these prolonged strikes are:
April 20th, 21st, 24th, 25th and 30th,
May 2nd, 14th, 15th, 19th and 20th,
June 13th, 23rd and 30th,
July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 15th and 31st,
August 1st, 15th and 31st.
Travellers who have already booked fllights are advised to check their insurance policy small print carefully.
