Airport strike threat in Spain called off after unions reach deal ‘in principle’

TRAVEL chaos in Spain could be avoided at the last-minute after a deal ‘in principle’ has been agreed between the workers’ unions and the airport operator Aena and air navigation manager Enaire.

The parties are due to sit down together again this afternoon (26 September) to sign the deal which must  then be ratified  by the Ministry for Development.

Specific terms of the deal have not yet been confirmed but the CCOO, UGT and USO unions had been been calling for pay increases and more staff.

Airport workers – including firefighters and air traffic controllers – had threatened 25 one-day strikes in the months leading up to Christmas.

Aena operates 46 airports across the whole of Spain. The operator saw 230.2 million passengers pass through its airports in 2016. It made a net profit of €1,164 million in the same year.