Spanish air traffic controllers could heap more misery on UK holidaymakers by striking this summer.
Staff will decide whether to announce industrial action at an assembly at the end of June in Barcelona, sources at air traffic controllers’ union USCA have told Spanish press.
There has not yet been any official announcement from the union, which claims to represent more than 90 per cent of air traffic controllers in Spain.
But national spokesman Susana Romero confirmed overnight the possibility of a strike was on the cards in comments she made to respected Majorcan newspaper Diario de Mallorca.
The nightmare scenario of a Spanish air traffic controllers strike on top of the ongoing chaos affecting holidaymakers trying to leave many UK airports, followed USCA complaints about staff levels as the number of travellers returns to pre-Covid 19 pandemic levels.
They say staff who have retired have not always been replaced and new air traffic controllers were not trained up during the coronavirus pandemic because of the cancellation of training courses.
USCA pinned a tweet earlier this week by Diario de Mallorca highlighting their claims the numbers of air traffic controllers in the Balearic Islands, which include Majorca and Ibiza and is one of the most popular destinations for British tourists, was “insufficient” for the summer.
Antoni Capo, the Balearic Islands director of Spanish air navigation manager ENAIRE, insisted in a recent interview Palma’s air traffic control centre and control tower would have 11 more air traffic controllers this year than in 2019.
The numbers he quoted have been called into question by USCA.Spanish military were called in to take over Spain’s air traffic control in December 2010 after civilian staff called in sick en masse in a dispute with airport authority Aena over working hours and conditions.
The Spanish-government ordered move came after several airports across the country were shut after the air traffic controllers’ unauthorised walkout.
Thousands of travellers were left stranded.Air traffic controllers ended the wildcat strike after the Spanish government declared an unprecedented state of alert and Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, then deputy Prime Minister, warned them they would face criminal prosecution if they didn’t show up to work.
Hundreds of air traffic controllers were accused of sedition, but most cases were shelved before they got to trial and only some in Madrid and Palma ended up paying fines after reaching out-of-court settlements with prosecutors.
An air traffic controllers’ strike in June 2015 in Spain, which was expected to cause chaos, went off virtually unnoticed.
Most staff were ordered to work after the government imposed a 70 per cent minimum service.
Earlier this week it was claimed British tourists arriving at Majorca Airport were taking an average of nearly three hours after landing to reach the coaches waiting to take them to their hotels.
Balearic Transport Business Federation (FEBT) representatives met with the region’s central government delegate Aina Calvo on Monday to seek solutions.
The problems were blamed mainly on a lack of police at passport control, especially on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays when most of the flights bringing in package holidaymakers land in Majorca.
FEBT manager Salvador Servera told respected island newspaper Ultima Hora the long delays at passport control meant there was a knock-on effect right throughout the system and holidaymakers were reaching their hotels much later than expected.
Hundreds of flights out of the UK have been delayed or cancelled in recent weeks and passengers have endured waits of several hours, with police being brought in to tackle the chaos.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps held crisis talks with travel chiefs yesterday/on Wednesday in which he told them to sort out the mess, blamed on staff shortages caused by job cuts during the coronavirus pandemic.
Union Unite has warned that unless airline and airport bosses resolved the crisis before July, the “chaos will last the entire summer season.”
June’s assembly in Barcelona will be attended by air traffic controller representatives from ENAIRE’s five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Seville and Gran Canaria.
