The strike by Iberia handling staff that began on Friday will mean the cancellation of 26 inter-island connections in the Balearics as well as the eight Palma to Madrid flights that had already been announced. The 26 are 14 Palma-Mahon and 12 Palma-Ibiza.
The total number of cancellations in Spain has therefore increased to 470; Iberia initially announced 444, which didn't include the Balearic island connections.
The airline had said that it would try to minimise the impact of the strike on internal flights in the island regions in order to be able protect connectivity between islands. But as it has turned out, the vast majority of cancellations at Son Sant Joan will be flights with Menorca and Ibiza. This is a very different situation to that of the Canaries, where inter-island routes will not be affected.
Scheduled to last until January 8, the industrial dispute has arisen as a consequence of the latest tender for handling service concessions. Iberia has lost concessions at eight large airports in Spain, including Palma and Ibiza.
Following a Wednesday meeting, which broke up without agreement, the unions were highly critical of Iberia's stance. The meeting was "a mockery to the workers", the unions believing that it was only called in order disguise the company's real intentions - to subrogate the service and workers to new contractors and leave airports without alternatives. Unions fear that this will harm pay and working conditions.
The alternative that the unions have called for is 'self-handling', the provision of ground handling services by an airline itself. Iberia says that it has never had this type of arrangement because it operates at very low margins and is highly intensive in human resources. It has therefore always contracted services out. Although it is part of the same group, Iberia Airport Service (the handling division) is a separate company to the various airlines within IAG.