The first day of ground staff strikes at 12 Spanish airports caused “mountains of luggage” on the tarmac and other delays. Here’s what you can expect from the two different airport strikes taking place across Spain this week.
Monday March 30th was the first day of strikes by ground handling staff across Spain, with workers taking part in walkouts at12 airports across the country.
Groundforce staff began their indefinite strike on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (from 5am to 7am, 11am to 5pm and from 10pm to midnight), while workers at Menzies have scheduled 24-hour stoppages on April 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th.
READ ALSO: Ground staff begin Easter strike at 12 airports in Spain
So what’s been the impact of the strikes so far and what can we expect from the rest of the week?
According to the union delegate at Groundforce, Rubén Guallar, the airports most affected by the strike on the first day were Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Gran Canaria, with delays to both flights and luggage.
The unions claim that so far there has been little impact to services at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, but there were several long queues that formed early in the morning, particularly at the Lufthansa, KLM, and Air Europa check-in desks.
There were also some flights delayed and long waits for baggage.
At Madrid Barajas, the situation wasn’t any better. There are reports in the Spanish press of very long (“kilometre-long”) lines of passengers waiting to have their luggage checked.
Some passengers interviewed by Spanish TV station Telecinco claimed they’d waited for as much as four or five hours for their bags to be delivered. There were also “mountains of luggage” just waiting on the tarmac outside.
READ ALSO: The essential guide to Easter in Spain in 2026
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In Málaga, the unions admitted that the first day of the strike did cause some delays. During the morning walkout from 5am to 7am and the afternoon shift 11am to 5pm, seven flights experienced delays, three of them exceeding one hour, according to José Manuel Álvarez, head of the Air Sector in Andalusia for CCOO and delegate for the Groundforce committee.
These were also two SAS flights with delays of over one hour, as well as an Air France departure to Paris, with a little over an hour’s delay, according to union data.
It is estimated that the stoppages have affected around 15 percent of the flights from Málaga so far.
There were also reports of several delays in Gran Canaria and in Palma de Mallorca, at least 18 flights were delayed.
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The next strike day will take place on Wednesday April 1st. As well as issues at the above airports, there could also be delays and long lines at airports in Alicante, Ibiza, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and Bilbao, where Groundforce staff are located.
On Thursday, staff from ground handling company Menzies are set to strike, affecting flights and services in Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South and Tenerife North.
These walkouts will last five days and will not be uninterrupted (24 hours each), will could result in long delays.
Good Friday (April 3rd) is expected to be one of the worst strike days as both staff from Menzies and Groundforce will stage walkouts at all the airports mentioned above. This could cause significant holdups to flights, long waits at baggage carousels and extra queuing at check in desks.
Menzies staff will also be striking on April 4th, Easter Sunday (April 5th) and Easter Monday (April 6th). It’s possible that Groundforce staff will continue their indefinite strike on April 6th too, if no agreement is reached beforehand.
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If you’re due to fly into or out of any of the affected airports from Wednesday through to the end of Easter week, the general advise is to check your flight status regularly and arrive at the airport much earlier than usual, particularly for international flights.
Airport authorities also advise that you factor in extra time for connecting flights and if possible, travel with only hand luggage rather than checked-in bags, in order to avoid baggage delays.
Unions have called for stoppages for Groundforce workers, demanding that their employers implement correct salary scales according to the Consumer Price Index, while Menzies staff also have gripes over pay and work schedules.
