Passengers on flights to Spain face disruption

PASSENGERS FLYING to Spain tomorrow face significant disruption as a result of a 24-hour general strike in the country.

The strike has been called following austerity measures by the country’s socialist government. It also plans to introduce labour market reform, including a rise in the retirement age.

The strike is likely to affect thousands of flights in and out of Spain, with air traffic controllers (ATCs) operating a significantly reduced service.

Ryanair says it will run a full schedule of flights because the air traffic controllers have to provide a minimum level of service and must accept some international flights. However, the airline will only accept passengers with hand luggage as there will be limited ground-handling facilities.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said passengers who insisted on having to travel with bags should book a flight for another day or be refunded the cost of checking in their bag if they insist on flying tomorrow.

He warned passengers flying tomorrow that there could be considerable delays. “It is likely that air traffic controllers will work to rule. The only way to avoid the widespread disruption that happens is to ask passengers to travel with hand luggage only.”

Mr McNamara said Ryanair was forced to cancel more than 250 flights due to a national strike in France last week over attempts to change the pension laws there.

He recommended that European governments should act like Ronald Reagan did in confronting air traffic controllers in 1981. The then US president sacked the air traffic controllers and replaced them with outside staff.

Mr McNamara said air traffic control was an essential service and air traffic controllers should not be allowed to strike or hold passengers to ransom “in any way”.

“National ATC providers should be deregulated and allowed to compete with each other in a system that will allow one country to manage the air space of neighbouring countries to prevent flights being cancelled or delayed during industrial action,” he said.

Aer Lingus has confirmed that it is cancelling 12 flights tomorrow. They are flights to and from Barcelona, Malaga and Madrid from Dublin, two flights from Gatwick airport to Malaga return and a flight between Washington and Madrid.

Customers who have been affected by a cancellation will be informed via text message and e-mail. For those customers whose flights have been cancelled or those who elect not to travel, Aer Lingus has activated a change-for-free and refund-request facility on aerlingus.com

For operating flights, the airline is encouraging customers to check in via aerlingus.com using the web check-in, which is available for all Spanish destinations with the exception of flights from Barcelona.

Customers are advised to check in on time but to expect some delays due to limited ground-handling resources at Spanish airports.

There is likely to be more disruption for air passengers as French unions have announced two new one-day stoppages on October 2nd and October 12th in protest at the government’s pension reform plan. Last week thousands of flights were cancelled as a result of similar strike.