Little disruption due to strike

The strike by Iberia pilots was yesterday having little affect on Palma airport. The state carrier, in which British Airways has a 10 percent stake, has been forced to cancel a number of flights as a result of the industrial action. Iberia said it had cancelled 238 of the day's 1'019 flights as pilots stuck to a summer-long campaign of industrial action to push for higher pay and improved benefits. Worst hit were services to European destinations with 32.6 percent of scheduled flights cancelled and 21 percent of flights within Spain also grounded, an Iberia spokeswoman said. But despite the strike it was business as usual at Madrid's Barajas airport. “Things are normal this afternoon as they have been all day,” a spokeswoman for the airport authority AENA said. “People were advised of flight cancellations and took alternative action.” Foreign Minister Josep Pique said the industrial conflicts including the bus strike at the week end were generating a “bad image” of Spain, which “affects all of us.”