Spanish Air Traffic Controllers have closed practically all Spanish air space

AENA, the Spanish Airports Authority has described the events, at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend, as 'intolerable'.




Spanish Air Traffic Controllers have closed practically all Spanish air space, according to AENA, the Spanish Airports Authority.



All Spanish airspace is now reported to be closed, with the exception of Andalucía. AENA has issued a statement advising passengers hoping to depart from these airports to stay away and contact their airline.



In effect AENA is being forced to close down all Spanish airspace. They say as many as 4.26 million passengers could be affected over the length of the Bank Holiday weekend.



The controllers union say they know ‘nothing’ of what is going on but AENA is claiming a lack of staff at the start of what is a bank holiday ‘puente’ weekend. They say they are simply incapable of covering the service.



AENA complains of ‘massive absentees’ from controllers in this evening’s shifts and describes the attitude of the controllers as ‘intolerable’. Some controllers are reported to have simply walked out claiming ‘health reasons’.



They add the action of the controllers could be sanctioned with a disciplinary sacking because ‘it constitutes a crime under the article 409 of the Penal Code’.



That law says that those who promote the collective abandonment from work will face a fine of 8- 12 months of work, and suspension from employment for a period of six months to two years. Therefore AENA says that those who take part in what they call a boycott, will be punished with a fine of 8-12 months pay.



Why has this happened today?

A clarification came from the Cabinet today on the regulations which control the working hours of controllers. With the objective of avoiding ‘erroneous interpretations’ a maximum of 1,670 hours a year has been ratified, but ‘non aeronautical work will not be counted in that number’. In other words the time granted for union business and any absence through incapacity, and other activities outside the control tower are not counted.



That brought the response from the USCA air traffic controllers union that a press meeting was called in Madrid at 5pm and that a press release would follow that.



Typically Spanish now understands that the USCA union has issued a statement calling on its members to ‘the responsibility of returning to their work posts’.



One of the reported comments from the controllers was ‘We are not shelf stackers in Pryca’.



Union CCOO has accused the air traffic controllers of ‘holding the citizens hostage’ with their massive walk out.



Some passengers at Barajas Airport in Madrid were already on board their planes, waiting to take off, when they had to return to the terminal.



The main air traffic control centre for the flights which cross Madrid, at Torrejón, at 2130 had two controllers working on routing and two controllers on approach – the ‘minimum required’ for emergency flights.



Minister for Development, José Blanco, has called an emergency meeting with the Secretary of State for Transport, the Director of Civil Aviation and the President of AENA all called to attend.



In the meeting the decision was taken by the Government to pass a decree which will allow military controllers to take over.

The decree comes into effect at 2130 tonight. Minister for Development, José Blanco, described the controllers’ action as ‘blackmail’. He has given the controllers an ultimatum – get back to work, or the military will go in and the Ministry for Defence will run air traffic in Spain.



The new controllers shift starts at 10pm tonight, after which we will have some idea as to how the strike may proceed.



Passengers stuck at T4 in Madrid are reported to be chanting slogans against the controllers. Airlines are reported to be fleeting coaches to cover domestic routes. RENFE has added 664 extra seats on its AVE service between Madrid and Sevilla to meet demand tonight.



Iberia has cancelled all its flights until at least 11am tomorrow. The company has asked passengers not to travel to the airport.



We will update this story as more information becomes available.



The following phone number has been made available for information from the Ministry for Development: 902404704



Also the Spanish Airport Authority Website, although it is failing to cope well with the traffic at www.aena.es. They are advising passengers, as of 1930 CET, not to travel to the airport, but to contact their airline.



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