El Prat is the Spanish airport most affected by the strike days of the Ryanair crew. It was this Tuesday and it still is this Wednesday.
Cancellations with origin or destination in Barcelona reached a total of 10 on Tuesday, according to calculations by the USO union. And in the case of Wednesday, although the figure has dropped to six canceled flights, it is still the most affected Spanish airport in terms of cancellations.
Likewise, the flights that have suffered delays today at the Barcelona airport have reached a total of 50, only surpassed by Palma Airport, with 54 delayed flights.
Other airports affected by the Ryanair strike have been Madrid, with four cancellations; that of Palma de Mallorca, with a cancellation; and that of Malaga, with another cancellation.
Regarding delayed flights, Barajas has registered 19 affected flights; Malaga airport 33; that of Valencia has notified eight affected flights; that of Alicante 28; that of Santiago de Compostela a total of eight; that of Seville 10; that of Ibiza 14 flights affected; and that of Girona a total of seven.
In the country as a whole this Wednesday, until 7:00 p.m., a total of 11 flights have been canceled and 231 have been delayed, figures very similar to those of yesterday. The USO union, convener of the strike together with Sitcpla, has already indicated that the effects would have been greater "taking into account that in some bases Ryanair achieved minimum services of 100%", according to Ernesto Iglesias, USO-Air Sector flight manager. The union denounced that the low-cost firm “has practiced international strikebreaker again” by bringing crew members from Portugal, the United Kingdom and Italy to supplant the cabin crew in Spain. Likewise, he denounced the retaliation of the Irish firm, which "has opened more than 90 files to workers due to the protests and has dismissed four, of which one in Barcelona and another in Girona."
The root of the conflict – which caused the first strike day at the end of last month – is found in the collective agreement. “Cabin crews do not have fixed salary, vacation or time off. The airline prefers to leave thousands of passengers on the ground rather than talk to the workers,” reported USO sources, who also asked that the working conditions of Spanish employees be equated to those of other European bases such as France or Germany.
If nothing changes, it has called several days of strike that plan to leave hundreds of passengers ashore in the middle of the tourist season. The stoppages are scheduled for the next days 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 and 28 July in the ten Spanish airports where Ryanair operates: Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Alicante, Valencia, Barcelona , Girona, Santiago, Ibiza and Palma. The workers of the British airline EasyJet have also joined the protests, who plan to go on strike on July 15, 16, 17, 29, 30 and 31, to demand the unblocking of the collective agreement.
This post-pandemic summer is proving to be a challenge for most European airports, especially the larger ones. Following the case of Schipol (Amsterdam), London's Heathrow announced that it was restricting its capacity to 100,000 daily passengers and asked not to sell more tickets this summer. In addition, the French airport Charles de Gaulle described as "catastrophic" the loss of 20,000 suitcases.
Passengers affected by cancellations have the right to claim the full amount of the ticket or a return flight to the first point of departure as quickly as possible. They also have the right to demand compensation of between 250 and 600 euros if the cancellation has not been communicated 14 days in advance.
