Demonstration by Ryanair cabin crew at Malaga airport. /
The UK government has warned of problems in Spain due to strikes by cabin crew at Ryanair and easyJet, but businesses fear it will make people rethink their holidays.
The UK government has come under fire for warning travelers to Spain of problems due to cabin crew strikes at Ryanair and easyJet’s Spanish bases.
An alert on the Foreign Office’s website reads: ‘A planned strike in July could disrupt easyJet and Ryanair flights to and from Spain.’ Foreign Office advice urges travelers to contact the affected airline if they believe they may be affected.
The tourism sector on the Costa considers that this type of warning is not common “when it comes to labor disputes that lead to demonstrations”. And he fears that, while British authorities are not advising against traveling to Spain, the alert could cause people to rethink their holidays.
The warning comes as striking cabin crew at Ryanair led to the cancellation of a flight from Malaga to Milan on Wednesday and delays to thirty flights at Malaga airport. Nationally, eleven flights were canceled, most of them in Barcelona, and more than 200 flights were delayed, according to data from the USO, the union calling for the strike. The Irish low-cost carrier said only 1% of scheduled operations in Spain’s airport network were affected by Tuesday’s strike.
Ryanair said the “vast majority of Ryanair crew are working as normal” and the airline expects “minimal disruption to its flights” this month.
The Irish airline’s cabin crew will go on strike again tomorrow (Friday), when they will also be joined by cabin crew from British airline easyJet. New strikes are scheduled for July 18-21 and July 25-28 at the ten Spanish airports where Ryanair operates.
USO flight sector coordinator Ernesto Iglesias said Ryanair “does not meet minimum services and that is why the union is maintaining operations”.
Iglesias said the company “continues to bring in professionals from other bases outside of Spain to reduce the impact of the strike.”
Ryanair, in a statement, said that “under Article 10 of Royal Decree 17/1977, Ryanair is obliged to operate minimum service flights, in accordance with Spanish law. The crew is required to carry out minimum service flights which the Spanish government has deemed essential to protect passengers’ travel plans. All minimum service flights are clearly communicated to the crew, as strike action is not permitted on protected flights.”
