Air traffic controllers ended a wildcat strike across Spain yesterday, reopening the country’s airspace to flights after the government declared a state of alert and threatened criminal prosecutions.
The wildcat strike over working hours hit an estimated 300,000 passengers on a long holiday weekend, prompting the government to put the military in command of the skies and threaten prison for absent controllers.
Of 184 air traffic controllers scheduled to work, “practically the whole shift went to work,” said a spokesman for airport operator AENA, allowing flights to recommence.
Within hours take-offs and landings began at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat and other airports dotted around the country.
“We are going to try to re-establish the network first thing tomorrow,” said a spokesman for Spanish flag carrier Iberia, which had cancelled flights until 6 a.m. today.
Transport Minister Jose Blanco told Spanish media the airspace was completely open but it might take another 24 to 48 hours to recover normality as flights were rescheduled.
The Socialist government had declared the first state of alert since Spain turned into a democracy after the 1975 death of dictator General Francisco Franco.
Ministers at an emergency cabinet meeting agreed the extraordinary measure for 15 days because airports had been paralysed, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters.
Air traffic control had been placed under the control of the military by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero the previous evening after controllers called in sick en masse.
Under the state of alert, controllers were under the orders of the military and could be charged for disobeying an order under the military penal code, Rubalcaba said, warning of heavy prison sentences.
According to the transport ministry, there are 2,300 air traffic controllers in Spain; 135 earn more than €600,000 a year and 713 between €360,000 and €540,000.
The strike coincided with a government ruling last Friday that the maximum time worked by air traffic controllers is 1,670 hours a year – 32 hours a week – but this excludes non-aeronautical work.