Ryanair has said walkouts by baggage handlers, which started on Friday and are due to take place until the end of the year at major Spanish airports, won’t affect passengers.
Workers for Azul Handling, part of the Ryanair Group, began striking on Friday 15 August and will continue every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until 31 December.
The walkouts have been timed to hit the busiest hours at airports: 05:00–09:00, 12:00–15:00, and 21:00–23:59.
Canarian Weekly said the action directly impacts Ryanair’s 12 Spanish bases: Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Tenerife South, and Valencia.
It added: “While airports without a fixed Ryanair base, such as Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Menorca, Santander and others, are not officially part of the strike, they may still suffer knock-on delays and cancellations due to disrupted schedules.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Ryanair confirms that none of its flights to/from Spain were affected in any way by the poorly supported handler strikes from Fri to Sun at a handful of Spanish airports. The UGT Union has less than 20% of Azul Handling “front of house” staff in membership, and all of Ryanair’s Spanish flights departed normally on Fri, Sat and Sun.”
The spokesperson added: “We continue to operate a full schedule to/from Spain, and do not expect any disruption to our operations as a result of this third-party industrial action.”
