Findo
5th Jan 2004, 01:11
January 3, 2004
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/01/1073160172.html
Industrial action by air traffic controllers at an airport in the outskirts of Madrid was affecting around 80 percent of flights in Spanish air space on Saturday, according to Spain's AENA airport authority.
Air traffic controllers at the Torrejon de Ardoz airport had refused to extend their working hours to cope with a surge in flights amid
disagreements between AENA and union leaders over a 2004 collective contract, AENA said.
"Unilateral action by the controllers in the control center in Torrejon, who are refusing to complete the necessary working hours, is seriously affecting traffic in Spanish air space, with more than 80 percent of flights affected," AENA's Director General Jose Eladio Seco told Spanish state radio, RNE.
AENA and the air traffic controllers union USCA are in negotiations to extend the working week in the 2004 collective contract. The talks began in July.
An USCA spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Because of its coverage of the northern-central part of the Iberia
peninsula, the action at Torrejon affects other airports throughout Spain and flights over the country.
State radio said more than half of flights in Spain had delays of more than 20 minutes.
It added that AENA was holding emergency negotiations to resolve the situation and that flights should start to return to normal after 1800 GMT.
(Reuters)
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/01/1073160172.html
Industrial action by air traffic controllers at an airport in the outskirts of Madrid was affecting around 80 percent of flights in Spanish air space on Saturday, according to Spain's AENA airport authority.
Air traffic controllers at the Torrejon de Ardoz airport had refused to extend their working hours to cope with a surge in flights amid
disagreements between AENA and union leaders over a 2004 collective contract, AENA said.
"Unilateral action by the controllers in the control center in Torrejon, who are refusing to complete the necessary working hours, is seriously affecting traffic in Spanish air space, with more than 80 percent of flights affected," AENA's Director General Jose Eladio Seco told Spanish state radio, RNE.
AENA and the air traffic controllers union USCA are in negotiations to extend the working week in the 2004 collective contract. The talks began in July.
An USCA spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Because of its coverage of the northern-central part of the Iberia
peninsula, the action at Torrejon affects other airports throughout Spain and flights over the country.
State radio said more than half of flights in Spain had delays of more than 20 minutes.
It added that AENA was holding emergency negotiations to resolve the situation and that flights should start to return to normal after 1800 GMT.
(Reuters)