National
Travellers to Spain, including the Canary Islands, could face a difficult time this summer with several Spanish airlines threatening industrial action over the holiday season, led by airline pilot union SEPLA who are considering a series of fresh strikes that could affect lots of holidaymakers.
If SEPLA decides to go ahead it could heavily impact airlines carrying Uk passengers including, Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2, Vueling, and Norwegian, in addition to, Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, Air Europa, Swiftair, Plus Ultra, Eurowings, and Evelop, who are also at high risk of being impacted.
SEPLA are concerned that the current strikes are proving ineffective as Spanish legislation demands a minimum service even on strike days, so that some flights are still operating, which effectively cancels out the impact of any industrial action.
Recently, 90% of Air Nostrum and Air Europa flights still operated during strikes by pilots, with less than 20 cancelled.
On Friday the secretary general of SEPLA, Javier Fernandez-Picazo, said that more significant strikes were definitely something they were considering. SEPLA is trying to get others to join them, such as air traffic controllers and cabin crew, arguing that government legislation has ruined their “constitutional right to strike.”
They say that this reduced the impact of strikes meaning that airline bosses felt no obligation to negotiate with their employees as the effect on their service was minimal.
Manuel Reyes, the chief delegate of SEPLA for Air Nostrum, said it was “inconceivable that the Government lets airlines hide behind abusive minimum service.”
SEPLA has announced more strike days on May 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 29th and 30th, and then on June 1st and 2nd at all airports in Spain, and warned that more strikes will follow unless a satisfactory agreement is reached.
UK travellers could also expect more delays after arriving at Spanish airports as fewer staff will be available to stamp their passports on these dates.
