Ryanair staff began strike action at Spanish airports on Friday but had little impact on travel heading into one of the busiest weekends of the year.
The first day of strike action by Ryanair staff at Spanish airports had minimal impact on Friday, with no flight cancellations and few delays.
Spanish trade union UGT called the walkout during the busiest month of the summer for staff at Azul Handling, Ryanair’s ground operations subsidiary in Spain, over worker sanctions and the abuse of overtime.
The stoppages started on August 15th and will continue over the weekend on the 16th and 17th. Ryanair previously claimed that the strikes will have no impact on flights coming and going from Spain.
READ ALSO: Ryanair claims strike in Spain will have no impact on flights
August 15th was a public holiday in Spain, which was chosen for maximum impact during a very busy holiday period, but flight information and reports from the Spanish press suggest that the walkouts made little difference to travel on day one of the action.
The strikes started “without any notable incidents” at the Andalusian airports of Málaga, Seville and Almería, local press reports. Only one flight was affected by a slight delay in Málaga, but this was unrelated to the strike.
The Valencia regional press reported “almost complete normality both in Valencia and at the rest of the [Ryanair] company’s bases in Spain.”
According to UGT sources, there were no “major incidents”.
The airports affected are Madrid, Málaga, Alicante, Almería, Oviedo, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Girona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Menorca, Murcia, Palma, Reus, Santander, Santiago, Seville, Tenerife North and South, Valencia, Vigo, Vitoria and Zaragoza.
If the dispute is not resolved, workers are scheduled to continue striking every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of the year. The strike action will be in time slots, taking place between 5 am and 9 am; midday and 3 pm; and 9 pm and midnight on the scheduled strike days.
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The Ryanair walkouts follow news that unions have also called for further industrial action by airport staff at seven more major airlines, adding to potential travel disruption in Spain throughout August.
Airport ground staff employed by the Menzies group will walk out at airports including Barcelona-El Prat, Alicante, Palma, Málaga and Tenerife South. The walkouts will be on the 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st August.
READ ALSO: Seven more airlines to be hit by strikes in Spain this August
