Iberia airlines is preparing for the worst. Company management fears that Spain's pilot union, Sepla, will extend its strike through January and begin a series of periodic strikes similar to those carried out by Air Europa captains since September.
Reliable sources from within the company and familiar with the negotiations explain that the labor strikes planned for December 18 and 29 "are only the beginning of a brutal long-term strike that could affect profitability for the airline, which is a partner of British Airways"
Unlike the strike conducted by the airline group Globalia, which is operating about 85-90% of available flights, a strike of this kind will have a much greater effect on earnings for Iberia considering that one in three flights are not leaving the ground and, what is worse, more than 10% of their Latin American routes would be cancelled.
In Air Europa's case, the conflict is not affecting their transatlantic routes. Sources from the public operator of airport infrastructure assure that management from Aena Barajas is also preparing to face increased worker movements in January so that the impact of daily airport operations and T-4 are minimized.
Last Wednesday they met with a team from Iberia to initiate an impactful plan for next Sunday, which will try to speed up operations techniques in order to avoid any inconveniencing passengers. One decision is to try to provide all flights with a telescoping footbridge that will shorten onboarding times.
Meeting basic service needs
On December 18 Iberia will pay close attention to meeting minimum service requirements outlined by the Ministry of Public Works. Sources from the company said, "We will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against any pilot that hinders flight operations without just cause." Talks designed to avoid a strike are running out of steam, and Iberia claims that the damage is already done. And not only the drop in reserves (which translated to 12 billion lost sales per day), but because although this Friday there will be a hypothetical agreement to call off the strike, there will not be enough time to reschedule the 91 planes that are scheduled to not operate on Sunday.
