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Passengers left stranded amid chaos caused by walkout, which comes amid dispute over hours and conditions
The Spanish military was called in to take control of the country's airspace yesterday after air traffic controllers staged an unauthorised walkout over working conditions.
Passengers have been left stranded amid the travel chaos caused by the walkout, which left eight airports, including Madrid, closed across the country. Air traffic controllers called in sick en masse, leaving thousands of people stranded on the eve of a national holiday.
Spain's deputy prime minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, announced that the army had been called in to take "control of air traffic in all the national territory" and said the head of the army would take decisions relating to the organisation, planning, supervision and control of air traffic.
Controllers abandoned their posts amid a lengthy dispute with the air traffic authority, Aena, over working hours and conditions, and hours after the government approved measures to partially privatise Spain's airports and hand over management of Madrid and Barcelona airports to the private sector.
Spanish authorities were looking into whether the so-called "sickout" amounted to criminal offences. Aena said some controllers were returning to work, with half back on duty at Barcelona airport, although the Spanish carrier Iberia said it had cancelled all of its flights out of Madrid until 11am today.
Stranded passengers were angry and said they had been left with no information. Aena had issued advice telling passengers who planned to travel to avoid airports as "air traffic has been interrupted". It made no announcement about when the walkout might end.
The lack of information stirred the anger of passengers like Marcela Vega, a 35-year-old dentist stuck at Madrid airport along with thousands of others last night and unable to travel to Chile with her husband, 5-year-old son and baby.
"It's a disgrace. How can a group of people be so selfish as to wreck the plans of so many people?" she said.
Computer technician Roberto Sanchez, 28, who was hoping to away for a weekend in Italy, said: "It's unbelievable, total chaos, nobody knows what to do."
Juan Ignacio Lema, president of Aena, called for controllers to return to work to stop an "intolerable" situation. "We're asking the controllers to stop blackmailing the Spanish people," he said.
The walkout brings to a head a year-long dispute, and has also closed key tourist airports in Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca and Menorca.
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