Status: 07/03/2022 02:49 am
Heads or tails – will my flight go or will it be cancelled? Flying currently seems like a gamble. At the start of the holidays there is chaos at the airports, not only in Europe, because there is a lack of staff or because there are strikes – as in Spain.
In the midst of the holiday season, 15 flights to and from Spain were canceled on Saturday due to a strike by Spanish cabin crew at the low-cost airlines easyJet and Ryanair. Around 200 other flights to Spain were delayed, as the unions announced. Numerous airports are affected by the Ryanair strikes: in addition to Madrid, Barcelona and Mallorca, Málaga, Seville, Alicante, Valencia, Girona, Ibiza and Santiago de Compostela.
At Ryanair, the strike began on June 24 and is expected to last 12 more days. According to the Spanish trade union USO, walkouts are planned three more times for four days each at the ten Spanish airports served by the Irish airline. The strike will therefore be from July 12th to 15th, from July 18th to 21st and from July 25th to 28th. The workers are demanding better working conditions for the 1,900 Spanish cabin crew members. According to the Irish company, it brings the most passengers to Spain and offers “more than 650 connections” from 27 Spanish airports.
At the airline easyJet, almost 450 flight attendants in Spain have been called on to go on strike this weekend, as well as from July 15th to 18th and from July 29th to 31st. They demand the same working conditions as easyJet employees in other EU countries.
Failures also in Paris
Dozens of flights were also canceled at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The fire brigade had already gone on strike on Thursday, which is why several runways were closed as a precaution. According to the airport operator ADP, every fifth flight was canceled between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Every sixth flight was canceled on Thursday and Friday. Paris Orly Airport was not affected by the strike. The summer holidays in France start next week.
Shortage of staff affecting freight traffic
In addition to strikes, it is mainly the lack of staff at the airports that is causing the sometimes chaotic handling conditions. In addition to passenger traffic, it now also affects air freight traffic at Frankfurt Airport.
A spokeswoman for the airline told dpa that the operation of the cargo airline Lufthansa Cargo was “sensitively” disrupted by the lack of staff. On Friday there were four flight cancellations for freight connections and some delays. In order to take the load off the system, an embargo has now also been placed on various animals until July 10th. “We continue to analyze the situation at the Frankfurt hub very closely and will take further measures if necessary,” said the spokeswoman.
Thousands of US flights canceled or delayed
But the situation in air traffic is not only tense in Europe. In the USA, too, passengers are feeling the lack of staff at airports. On Saturday alone, more than 600 flights were canceled by the afternoon (local time), according to the website flightaware.com, which specializes in flight connections. These were domestic flights as well as international flights with US cities as destination or departure. Another more than 3,300 flights were delayed on Saturday.
According to the website, 587 US flights had already been canceled on Friday. For Sunday, too, it became apparent that many passengers would again be stuck at the airports – more than 100 flights have already been canceled.
The rush of travelers at the airports is particularly high this weekend because of Independence Day in the USA. Passenger numbers are roughly the same as before the pandemic.