The two low-cost airlines Ryanair and Easyjet are extending their strikes in Spain. Throughout July, travelers at Madrid, Barcelona or Mallorca airports can expect delays or flight cancellations. 15 connections have already failed today.
In the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle, the wave of strikes in air traffic in the popular holiday destination of Spain continues to increase. The cabin crew of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair plans to go on strike for a further 12 days in July for better working conditions. The strikes were scheduled for the days between July 12th and 15th, 18th and 21st, and July 25th and 28th, according to the responsible Spanish unions USO and Sitcpla.
Numerous airports are affected by the Ryanair strikes: in addition to Madrid, Barcelona and Mallorca, Málaga, Seville, Alicante, Valencia, Girona, Ibiza and Santiago de Compostela. Ryanair cabin crew went on strike in Spain at the end of June and also between Thursday and Saturday. The Irish airline “is not complying with court decisions and the law and uses fear, coercion and threats against its employees,” the USO said. Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz must intervene.
The cabin crew of the competitor airline Easyjet also stopped work in Spain for a total of nine days between the end of June and the end of July – this weekend (between Friday and Sunday) and between the 15th and 17th and between the 29th and 29th of April .and the 31st of July. In the case of the British airline, the cabin crew is demanding significantly higher salaries and a limitation on flight times, as is the case in other countries.
On Saturday, 15 flights across Spain were canceled until the afternoon due to the strikes, ten connections from Ryanair and five from Easyjet, as reported by the state television broadcaster RTVE, citing the authorities. In addition, there were around 200 delays. In Mallorca there were no failures until the afternoon.
Due to the maintenance of so-called “minimum services” required by Spanish legislation during strikes, only a (often relatively small) part of the flights may be cancelled. In the case of the Ryanair strikes, the Ministry of Transport in Madrid decided, for example, that between 73 percent (Alicante and Palma de Mallorca) and 82 percent (Ibiza) of all scheduled flights must be completed on the strike days, depending on the airport.
