New acid test in European airports. If yesterday they faced a call for a cabin crew strike at Ryanair, today the challenge is much greater: the air traffic controllers of the center of Marseille, in France, are called to two days of unemployment this Saturday and Sunday.
The follow-up of this protest, which adds to a long list of labor conflicts in the airline sector in the middle of summer, is unknown. But it has already set off the alarms. Not surprisingly, all previous strikes by French air traffic controllers have resulted in days of delays and cancellations at airports across the continent. In Spain, the most exposed to what happens in the center of Marseille are the airports of Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Levante, point out from Enaire, the air traffic manager dependent on the Ministry of Transport.
"This call will have a very significant impact on the European network and on Enaire," the company commented yesterday. “Flights at the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat and Palma de Mallorca airports will also be affected, as the most relevant in the Mediterranean arc,” they added.
The air operator has activated a contingency plan, in coordination with Eurocontrol, to try to mitigate the impact of the strike on the airports, especially those of Barcelona and Palma. In addition, airlines are expected to replan routes to avoid flying over Marseille's airspace. From Enaire they recommend passengers to check the status of their flights this weekend before heading to the airport.
Even Ryanair, the largest company in Europe in number of passengers, has recognized a possible impact on its activity this weekend due to the strike by French controllers. “Ryanair expects some interruptions between Saturday and Sunday, mainly in France, Italy and Spain” due to this protest, they said.
In contrast, the cabin crew strike barely affected 2% of its 3,000 flights on Friday. In Spain, there was no follow-up to the strike and activity at the airports proceeded normally. However, from the USO union they explained that Ryanair had considered "100% of the flights" in Spain as minimum services - more than 400 - and had sent letters to each of the 1,900 workers summoned to tell them that they were part of these services.
The Ministry of Transport had dictated a flight protection ranging from 36% to 82% depending on the route and the airport. Now, the unions have requested very precautionary measures from the National High Court so that the low cost "complies" with the minimum services dictated by the Government in the strike scheduled for June 30 and July 1 and 2.
On the other hand, the strike did have a follow-up in Belgium, where Ryanair canceled 157 flights, affecting 21,000 passengers, according to spokesmen from the Charleroi and Brussels airports told the newspaper Le Soir. The call remains today and tomorrow in Spain.
