Breaking News

Category Archives: Airports

New ATC walkouts scheduled for September 26 and October 3 Standard

Barcelona ATC tower at sunrise by Juanedc - Flickr

The main Spanish air controllers’ union USCA announced yesterday, through its web site, that new ATC walkouts have been scheduled. Hence, USCA’s national assembly approved the call to strike on September 26 and October 3, between 06.00 and 18.00 CET. These new ATC walkouts have been scheduled in light of the “ENAIRE’s lack of desire to resume talks” concerning the sanctions of those 61 employees as a consequence of the air space closure in 2010. They also request the readmission of the controller who was dismissed in Santiago de Compostela as a consequence of the same events. These stops were first called…

Trade Unions call a handling strike in September in five Spanish airports Standard

Ryanair flight-Low Cost airlines lost market

The main trade unions in Spain, CCOO, UGT and USO have called Menzies Aviation Ibérica workers to a partial handling strike in Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Málaga and Palma de Mallorca airports. Worker’s representatives have announced that the strike has been called after a “further delay” from the company in the negotiation of the collective agreement. It has now taken over a year and a half. The informations was reported by Expansion. Trade unions said Menzies proposed postponing these negotiations “without any intention to solve any of the points raised” in the platform presented by the social part. The airlines affected by the strikes…

Norwegian will operate seven new routes between the Peninsula and the Canary Islands Standard

Norwegian Air Shuttle, Barcelona by Fotero - Flickr

An article in Expansión details how the low cost airline Norwegian will operate seven new routes between the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands beginning in October. Starting the 25th of October the company will fly to Gran Canaria and Tenerife Norte from Madrid. On the 26th of October they will begin flights to Gran Canaria and Tenerife Norte from Barcelona and the next day begin flights to Fuerteventura. They will also fly out of Malaga to Tenerife Norte starting the 26th October and to Gran Canaria starting the 30th of October. These route additions will lead to the incorporation…

Minimum Services of 80% for the new air controllers’ strike Standard

Two Iberias and one Delta operating on the Madrid airport runways

A new series of walkouts was scheduled by the Spanish air controllers for the current month of July. During the first strike, the Government established minimum services of 70% and which were considered unfair by USCA – the main controllers’ union. On Tuesday, Enaire published a press release announcing that the minimum services have now been fixed at 80% for the stops scheduled on July 11 and 25, from 10:00 to 13:00 LT and on July 12 and 26, from 17:00 to 20:00 LT. As they did last time, Enaire has pubished the justification that led them to make their decision about the minimum services. They also…

New walkouts scheduled by air controllers in Spain Standard

Terminal 1 of Barcelona-El Prat Airport, where Iberia is based. Photo by Iberia Airlines - Flickr

The main air controllers’ union, USCA, has extended the strike that they had called four more days i.e. 11, 12, 25 and 26 of July. Hence, due to Enaire’s unwillingness to reach an agreement, new walkouts have been scheduled. USCA demands the reinstatement of the controller dismissed in Santiago de Compostela as well as the filing of the sanctions which were given to 61 controllers in Barcelona. All of this comes as a consequence of the coordinated wildcat strike performed by the Spanish air controllers in 2010. On Monday, USCA anounced on their web site that the stops have been scheduled as follows: On July…

Globalia to begin indefinite strikes starting in July Standard

Aeromexico Plane in Madrid by May LM - flickr

According to information published on the rtve website, there will soon be new strikes in Spain. Groundforce, the subsidiary handling company of Globalia, will begin indefinite strikes starting on July 4th. The strike will affect the following seven Spanish airports: Barcelona-El Prat, Bilbao, Madrid-Barajas, Gran Canaria, Seville, Tenerife Norte and Tenerife Sur. There are various major airlines that will be inconvenienced by the handling strike including Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, Saudia, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Lot and Lufthansa. The strike is the result of the inability to come to an agreement over the third collective…

New base for EasyJet in Barcelona Standard

EasyJet above Barcelona by Victor - flickr

Last week ABC.es reported on the opening of a new base for EasyJet at the Barcelona El Prat airport. This is the British low cost’s second attempt at establishing a base in Spain after their first try in Madrid, which they later pulled out of. The director general of EasyJet in Spain, Javier Gándara, said that Barcelona’s case is very distinct from that of Madrid. He mentioned that Barcelona “is a market that the company knows very well, since it is the non-base airport that we fly to the most”. EasyJet will be using Barcelona as a base starting in…

Unprecedented lobby group formed by Air France KLM, Easyjet, IAG, Lufthansa and Ryanair Standard

Violeta Bulc- European Commissioner for Transport by epp group - flickr

On June 17th, ElEconomista reported on the formation of an unprecedented lobby group made up of some the biggest names in European commercial aviation. Air France KLM, Easyjet, IAG, Lufthansa and Ryanair have formed a lobby to defend their interests before the drafting of new European air transport policy. The lobby is expected to put pressure on the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, on 80% of the subjects to be covered in this new policy. The lobby has its priorities clear, one of the most important being the reduction of fees in the main European airports. European airport fees…

Binter Cabo Verde to be the new AOC of Binter Canarias Standard

Binter Canarias ATR 72-500 EC-KGJ landing in Funchal by Aero Icarus

Binter Cabo Verde will be registered as an African airline tomorrow. Even though they do not have an AOC yet, they are expecting to get it granted by the Authorities of Cape Verde soon. ElMundo published the information yesterday: Binter Cabo Verde will have two planes to fly from the African archipelago. They will have a staff of 60 Cabo Verdean employees. However, the new company will be integrated in the Spanish brand Binter. The Spanish airline currently has 16 regional aircrafts ATR 72-500 and two CRJs. The latter two will be the ones that Binter Cabo Verde will use. Then, at the end of 2015,…

Air Controllers keep the strike after failure in talks Standard

Madrid airport tower by Mathieu Marquer

Yesterday morning, air controllers confirmed they would keep the walkouts which had been scheduled for today from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 18:00 to 20:00 LT in the Spanish airports. The meeting they held with Enaire ended without success. According to the information published by ElEconomista, Enaire called the main controllers’ Union (USCA) for a meeting. After a short one, the controllers decided to go on with the strike for today and Sunday as previously scheduled. So far, the walkouts held on Monday and Wednesday have gone by with flight punctuality close to 100%. From the USCA’s point of view, the minimum…