Spain Airline Strike/Disruptions

[TLCOhio]

From the Guardian in London, they have this headline within the past hour: "Spanish prime minister uses military law to get airports moving again" with these news highlights: "The Spanish government declared a "state of alarm" yesterday for the first time in three decades, assuming sweeping powers that allowed the military to take control of the country's airspace and order Spain's striking air traffic controllers to work or face prison. The extraordinary move by the Socialist government of prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was expected to allow some of the thousands of British tourists trapped in Spain to start returning home this morning. Up to 20,000 were trapped by the sudden closure of local airspace on Friday afternoon after Spain's air traffic controllers walked out in a dispute over working hours."

 

As these financial and strike issues play out in the coming months in Europe, it would be good to keep an eye on these potential to disrupt your cruise and travel plans. We are planning a June 7 cruise out of Barcelona. Since Spring, things have been challenging in Greece and there are worries that it will spread to other countries that are needing bail-outs and/or big budget cuts. Public employee unions tend to oppose such cuts and go for strikes to make their "point".

 

This story also notes: "Zapatero has taken as a model Ronald Reagan's 1981 confrontation with American air controllers, when he also sent the military in and broke the union. In a country that has 20% unemployment and is suffering massive cuts in government spending, the 2,300 well-paid air traffic controllers have become a national obsession. They earned an extraordinary average of €350,000 (£300,000) each last year, thanks to generous overtime rules."

 

Full story at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/05/spain-airports-reopen-controllers-strike

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For lots of interesting details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. Don’t be shy and feel free to ask any questions of interest. This posting is now over 25,450 views. Appreciate those who have “tuned in”.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[onthebalcony]

There are four of us leaving from JFK on Iberia on Dec. 6 to Madrid, then on to Venice. Sure hope we are not delayed as our ship leaves Dec. 8 and we planned an extra day in Venice before boarding the Magnifica. We made our own air reservations which we usually don't do when traveling to Europe. What is the holiday mentioned on the news for this weekend in Spain that ends on Wed?

Then our news tonight mentioned the fires in Haifa which we will be visiting on Dec. 14.

This should prove to be an interesting trip with the obstacles we are already facing!!!

Oh, well, we should be used to this as we left for a trip around S.A. this past March just after the earthquake hit Chile!

[TLCOhio]

From the French AFP newswire within the past hour, they have this headline: "Passengers clog Spain's airports as strike lifts" with these highlights: "Hundreds of thousands of passengers packed Spain's airports Sunday as the military forced air traffic controllers to end a 24-hour wildcat strike under threat of jail. The strike hit an estimated 300,000 passengers on a long holiday weekend, whipping up the most chaotic scenes since an Icelandic volcano erupted in April and halted 100,000 flights worldwide. Controllers had called in sick en masse on Friday, rapidly shutting down the nation's airspace. The government then declared a state of alert for the first time since the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975, putting controllers under military command with the menace of jail terms for refusing orders. A state of alert will last 15 days and the government is ready to extend it if needed."

 

It sounds like things are starting to clear up at the Spain airports. The BBC story notes: "Air services in Spain are returning to normal after an unofficial strike by air traffic controllers disrupted hundreds of thousands of journeys. But thousands of passengers are being warned to expect further delays as Spain works to clear a huge backlog."

 

Full stories, including the AP & BBC versions, at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j1BDoXG_bByd42rQWVcyTXGwtTUw?docId=CNG.6b573fd3b9a5d6338e3b322ef720c2eb.1a1

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jrIUqy4GM-1Uy95KClWfm9o2Zl5w?docId=149abfd6076f4d3a8736dae6a4871511

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11921539

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For lots of interesting details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. Don’t be shy and feel free to ask any questions of interest. This posting is now over 25,500 views. Appreciate those who have “tuned in”.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[financialgrl]

Getting there and cruising isn't easy in Europe these days! Last summer flying to meet our cruise in Barcelona we encountered an act of God (remember the volcanic ash fiasco), followed by British Airways strike and later a possible dock striking. Changing to Iberia airlines meant adding a stop/plane change in Madrid. On the ship, a young couple from France said their departure was switched to another airport due to a last minute air traffic controller strike and at the last minute changed back to their original flight because supposedly enough controllers showed up for work to safely keep planes flying :eek:. Hmmmm -not so sure that would have left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling if I had been them.

 

We had similar port problems - Athens had ongoing demonstrations and the cruises before us skipped it altogether and then while we were in Istanbul there had been three killed in a demonstration near their government center. We made both port stops but you never know until you are on the ship - just gotta be ready for anything!

[keltic]

It´s not only a question of payment, or salary rise but the attempt to privatise the Spanish Airport Board, as the goverment want to get reduce the deficit. As it´s something pretty easy for bigger money makers like Barcelona and Madrid, it won´t be that easy for the rest of the 47 airport, which most of them are unprofitable and not really tempting for the private investment. So employees may be also preparing fresh sets of strikes.

 

With the controllers in militar surveilance, it seems that things are quite here, so I wouldn´t expect major disruptions in the near future.