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ATC Strike scheduled for October 3 is called off Airports,Regulations

Landing at Madrid Barajas Airport by David - Flickr

The main air traffic controllers’ union, USCA, has called off the strike that had been scheduled for this Saturday October 3. Yesterday, they announced on their web site that an agreement with Enaire had been reached. In spite of the fact that “this agreement does not meet all the objectives” pursued by USCA, they understand that Enaire has resumed negotiations. Thus they find it appropriate to explore an attempt of improving the relationship with Enaire. This attempt will not make them renounce the other claims. Especially in the case of the controller who was dismissed in Santiago de Compostela airport…

Negotiations between Enaire and controllers failed Airports,Regulations

Spanish slot coordination. Airplane ascending while another one is queing / Jumbero

Yesterday, the air traffic controllers and Enaire had a meeting to discuss the new ATC walkouts that have been scheduled for tomorrow and next Saturday, October 3. However, the parties did not reach an agreement. Previously, the Ministry of Development (Fomento) had published a press release announcing minimum services of 80% for this strike. These are the same levels they had fixed in the previous strike called by the controllers in July. After the meeting, both Enaire and the main representative of the air traffic controllers – USCA – published a press release respectively. On the one hand, Enaire said that…

New ATC walkouts scheduled for September 26 and October 3 Airports

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…

Air Controllers keep the strike after failure in talks Airports

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…

Minimum services of 70% for the air controllers’ strike next week Airports

Madrid's skyscrapers from the airport and the Terminal 4 ATC tower. Flickr - Armando G Alonso.

The Ministry of Development (Fomento) has confirmed the Spanish air traffic controllers’ strike and has established the minimum services in 70% of the scheduled staff for those days.  The controllers called a strike to protest the decision to sanction 61 controllers over a strike which ended with the total closure of Spanish air space in 2010. Being unable to reach an agreement with the main controllers’ union (USCA), the Government published a press release on both enaire.es and fomento.es to define the minimum services. This is the translation from Spanish: <<Development fixes the minimum services for the strike called by ENAIRE’s air…

Volotea chose Asturias for the first base in Spain Airlines,Airports

Boeing 717-200 Volotea Airlines EI-EXI by russavia / Wikimedia Commons

On October 27 we informed that Volotea would open up to 5 bases in Spain. The first one was expected for the north of the country, either in Bilbao, Santander, Vigo or Asturias. Last week Carlos Muñoz, CEO of Volotea,  confirmed to ElComercio.es that Volotea chose Asturias for the first base in Spain. The low cost airline will start to base its aircrafts there in May. Nevertheless, they will offer flights during Christmas this year – on the 19, 23, 26 and 30 of December – to Palma de Mallorca. On April 3 they will start operations with 2 weekly flights to Valencia. After this first destination, they…

Castellón airport is already operational Airports

Castellón airport Terminal by Sanbec / Wikimedia Commons.

As anticipated in this blog, Castellón airport was expected to start operations yesterday. And so they did. In a piece published by 20Minutos, they informed that the final permit was received from AESA  – the Spanish air safety agency – on Wednesday. Thus, Castellón airport is already operational and, in fact, yesterday the first flight landed there. It was a helicopter with two passengers on board. They flew from a nearby airfield, 10 minutes long to the brand new airport. Apparently, they read in the press that the airport was starting operations, so “we filed the flight plan, we got it approved…

Castellón airport to start operations on December 11 Airports

The Castellón Airport Web Site is still under construction

Next December 11 SNC-Lavalin, the Castellón airport manager, will receive the official authorisation to start operations. The information was published this morning at elPeriodicoMediterraneo.com. In the meantime, they have undertaken initiatives to get clients. Among them, they have launched their brand new web site, www.aeropuerto-castellon.com, which is still under construction, where they offer some information. The image of this post is a screenshot of the airport’s new website. It highlights that this is “a new airport for Valencia region”. Moreover, on the left side of the screen, there are three messages in English about the advantages of the province which has “more…

Happy days for Madrid airport Airports

Barajas Airport overview. Photo taken in 2005..

It was in February when we anticipated there were different signals which made us believe that Madrid airport and Iberia might be back. After bad times for both, it looks like things are improving significantly. On August 14 we shared the information that Iberia seemed to be already in good shape. Today, let’s go through the Adolfo Suárez Madrid – Barajas Airport current situation. Madrid airport is back to profitability As we had already informed, Aena managed to double the number of profitable airports in 2013. Together with Madrid, also Alicante, Fuerteventura, Girona, La Palma, Tenerife North and Valencia left losses to get…

Gómez-Pomar becomes new chairman of Enaire Regulations

Julio Gómez-Pomar in October 2012 at the closure of a Business development Programme for Renfe / Flickr - EOI Escuela de Organiación Industrial

On October 3, Julio Gómez-Pomar replaced Rafael Catalá as State Secretary for Infrastructure. According to Logística Profesional it was Ana Pastor – Minister of Development- who suggested Gómez-Pomar is appointed Secretary state for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing. This was approved by the Government’s board on October 3. Due to the unexpected resignation of the former Minister of Justice – Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón – Rafael Catalá was chosen to replace him. Catalá had recently taken over Enaire in preparation for the privatisation of the former Aena Aeropuertos, today Aena, SA. Enaire is a State company currently 100% responsible for Aena, SA. Next month, 49% of Aena SA will be…