Strikes by air traffic controllers in France, which force dozens of flights to Spain to be canceled or delayed each day of protests, and congestion problems at airports in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or Germany have alerted the airlines that operate in Spain in the face of a summer that is expected to be a record for the sector despite inflation. This was warned yesterday by the president of the Airline Association (ALA), Javier Gándara, during the presentation of the summer campaign. "It is a question that worries us; although the problems are not as serious as last year, it is possible that there may be alterations in European airports", he stressed.
In the summer of 2022, there were days of chaos at airports such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Heathrow due to a lack of ground staff - security, controls, baggage...-. This, added to the strikes experienced in several airlines (Ryanair or EasyJet), caused days of tension, with thousands of flights and passengers affected. Spanish airports did not suffer from these problems - "the country was a positive exception", said Gándara -, but in a networked activity such as aviation, what happens in a specific place can end up impacting the rest of the countries .
The ALA president has referred to air traffic controller strikes in France, flight restrictions in Amsterdam or staffing problems at UK airports as the clouds that threaten the season. The airlines have again today demanded that Europe intervene and force France to protect overflights in French airspace. A pilot strike at Air Europa is planned in Spain. Vueling cabin crew in France have also announced several days of protest in May.
Still, the outlook is positive for the sector. The airlines have scheduled 219 million seats in Spain for the summer season, which represents 3% more than the data for the historic summer of 2019. These forecasts are slightly lower than the figures offered by Aena a few weeks ago, when 4.4% more seats were expected. Gándara pointed out that this is a normal variation, as the airlines adjusted their offer throughout the season.
The Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and Andalusia have much higher figures than in 2019, while Barcelona and Barajas are below. More than 37 million seats are planned for the Prat for the summer, 7.9% less than the same season in 2019, and almost 43.8 million seats have been put up for sale in Madrid, a 3.1% less.
