This Friday, August 15, is a public holiday. The long weekend will coincide with a three-day strike by Azul Handling workers, starting on Friday. This will affect Palma Son Sant Joan Airport and others, including Ibiza. Azul provides services to Ryanair, the largest operator in Palma.
On Saturday and Sunday, Menzies handling workers will strike. Among airlines affected will be easyJet, Jet2, Lufthansa and British Airways.
The Azul strike will be for three periods of each day - 5am to 9am; 12 noon to 3pm; 9pm to midnight. Further strikes beyond this coming weekend are scheduled - every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday up to December 31 unless there is movement on what the UGT union has denounced as "a profound disregard" for workers and their demands for improved working conditions, an end to coercion to work overtime, and compliance with the industry agreement. Workers with Menzies are due to also strike on August 23, 24, 30, and 31. Meanwhile, there is unrest among workers with Groundforce, the largest handling operator at Palma Airport.
The hotel sector in Mallorca acknowledges there will be delays. Hotels have grown accustomed to having to deal with issues at airports, not just Palma. There may be bottlenecks in the flow of hotel arrivals, but otherwise the hotels don't expect there to be a major impact. Handling workers have said they will "paralyse" the airport, but AENA and the hotels don't share that opinion.
As to departures, passengers with a tour operator package have greater coverage in these cases, with the possibility of being transferred to other flights or being provided with an extra night's accommodation, if necessary. This is felt to be an unlikely outcome, given that the strike isn't expected to extend beyond certain periods, except in the case of last-minute flights.
The Mallorca Hoteliers Federation accepts these situations are inconvenient, but notes that they are now almost normal in the summer. A greater concern is damage to Mallorca's image, the airport strikes following shortly after the strike by TIB bus drivers.