Spanish union calls for strike at Air Nostrum during Easter travel season, affecting also Brussels Airlines’ flights

Spanish pilot’s union Sepla has called for several 24-hr work stoppages for employees working at Air Nostrum starting Monday 15 April until Wednesday 24 April. The regional Spanish carrier already cancelled 148 flights between Monday 15 and Wednesday 17 April, affecting around 10,000 passengers.

Other 24-hour strikes are expected to take place on Monday 22 April, Tuesday 23 April and Wednesday 24 April.

Several other labour unions are planning actions during the Easter travel season.

Brussels Airlines flights affected by the Air Nostrum strike

Air Nostrum is also operating some twelve daily flights for Brussels Airlines; the Belgian airline was forced to cancel eight flights tomorrow but says it has found a solution for every single affected passenger. Additional cancellations are likely if strikes continue as planned.

Currently, the Brussels Airport board mentions only the cancellation of SN2037 to Birmingham and SN3569 to Nantes, plus the delaying by two hours of SN3563 to Nantes, replaced by an A320.

Iberia flights affected by the Air Nostrum strike

Air Nostrum operates a large number of flights for Iberia. These flights start with figure 8. A complete list of those cancelled flights between 15 and 17 April can be found here.

The mínimum Service agreement stipulates that 100% of flights with origin Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Melilla, the flights of obligated public service within the peninsula (Almería-Sevilla, Badajoz-Madrid y Badajoz-Barcelona), 29%-31% of flights between Spanish cities where there an alternative within 5 hours and 45%-47% of those that are superior to 5 hours must be operated.

Clients affected by these cancellations may opt for the reimbursement of their ticket or change to another flight or date, until 10th May, subject to availability.

Other labour unions are planning strike actions during the Easter travel season

• a Renfe union (Spain’s state railway company) has called a 24-hour strike for 23 April, coinciding with the return date for many Easter travellers.
• Ground handling unions UGT and USO have called for a strike on 21 and 24 April after failed negotiations. The unions represent 60,000 workers from different ground handling companies.