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Flight fears as Spanish air controllers threaten strikes
Spanish air traffic controllers are planning 10 days of strikes that could wreck the travel plans of thousands of British holidaymakers during July and August.
The controllers are intending to take action on five days during July and five days during August.
The most potentially disruptive strike day would be Saturday, August 23 - during the UK Bank Holiday weekend.
Any stoppages by the controllers would hit the huge numbers of Britons who travel to such Mediterranean hotspots as Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca.
The controllers, who believe a proposed change in the law would limit their rights, are planning strikes for the 1st, 7th, 15th, 23rd and 31st of both July and August.
"We have had threats of Spanish strikes before and they have come to nothing, so we must hope that nothing happens this time," said a spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents.
He went on: "We have been in touch with the UK Federation of Tour Operators and also the Spanish Tourist Board about this.
"If the worst happened, holiday companies would try to arrange flights around the stoppages and not leave people stranded. Certainly a strike on August 23 could be disastrous."
Story filed: 17:11 Thursday 26th June 2003 www.ananova.com
Spanish air traffic controllers are planning 10 days of strikes that could wreck the travel plans of thousands of British holidaymakers during July and August.
The controllers are intending to take action on five days during July and five days during August.
The most potentially disruptive strike day would be Saturday, August 23 - during the UK Bank Holiday weekend.
Any stoppages by the controllers would hit the huge numbers of Britons who travel to such Mediterranean hotspots as Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca.
The controllers, who believe a proposed change in the law would limit their rights, are planning strikes for the 1st, 7th, 15th, 23rd and 31st of both July and August.
"We have had threats of Spanish strikes before and they have come to nothing, so we must hope that nothing happens this time," said a spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents.
He went on: "We have been in touch with the UK Federation of Tour Operators and also the Spanish Tourist Board about this.
"If the worst happened, holiday companies would try to arrange flights around the stoppages and not leave people stranded. Certainly a strike on August 23 could be disastrous."
Story filed: 17:11 Thursday 26th June 2003 www.ananova.com
