Palma Airport is getting ready to respond to more strike action by Ryanair cabin crew in Spain this week in a dispute over pay and conditions.
It comes as industry-wide staff shortages have caused flights across Europe to be delayed or cancelled, causing huge disruption for travellers and holidaymakers. The second round of strike action is between June 30 and July 2.
Workers say the Irish airline does not respect local labour laws covering issues such as the minimum wage and urge Ryanair’s bosses to improve working conditions.
The strikes by Ryanair cabin crew unions in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy affected less than 2% of the 9,000 flights scheduled between last Friday and Sunday, the Irish low-cost carrier said, but it did not look like that on the ground in Palma.
Meanwhile, easyJet cabin crew in Spain plan to go on strike for nine days in July, demanding a 40% increase in their basic salary. This is much lower than in countries such as France and Germany, says the USO union.
EasyJet and Lufthansa last week cut thousands more flights from their summer schedules, the latest examples of airlines cutting capacity. Airports, including Gatwick and Schiphol, are limiting the volume of passengers they will handle over the summer.