The strike by handing workers employed by Azul Handling, which is Ryanair's handling provider, started on Friday morning. All three airports in the Balearics are affected by this action, for which Spain's transport ministry has set minimum service levels ranging from 58% to 83%.
The strike will continue on Saturday and Sunday, this being one of the busiest weekends of the summer. The public holiday on August 15 means a long weekend for many Spaniards and so an increased level of travel. The intention is to repeat the strikes every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until December 31.
On Saturday and Sunday, Menzies handling workers will also strike. This company provides service to various airlines. Among them, easyJet, Jet2 and Norwegian have the highest volume of traffic in Palma.
The Menzies action is at present only due to be repeated on August 23, 24, 30 and 31. The minimum service levels for Palma are between 55% and 81% and for Ibiza 54% and 76%. Mahon is not directly affected.
In the case of Menzies, the strikes are for 24 hours, while the Azul actions are for three periods of the day - from 5am to 9am; from 12 noon to 3pm; and from 9pm to midnight. Up to Sunday (and starting on Thursday), 6,381 flights are scheduled for Balearic airports. There are 344 fewer flights than for the same days last year, explainable by the fact that airlines have been using larger planes.
EasyJet are recommending that passengers allow for "extra time", although the airline has stated that it does not expect "any impact" on its operations. The UGT union says more than a thousand workers will be affected by the strikes at Balearic airports.