Although most Spanish airports are getting back to normal many thousands of passengers remain stranded as airlines struggle to clear the backlog of the air traffic controllers’ strike that paralysed the country for more than two days.
Iberia, the Spanish flag carrier, cancelled all of their flights over the weekend, Ryanair cancelled 450 and Easyjet more than 100, and even with the resumption of services on Saturday night many aircraft and crew were not where they needed to be and had to be flown in from other parts of the country. Transport and development minister José Blanco said it would take 24 to 48 hours before services returned to normal.
The sick note strike ended after air traffic controllers were warned that they faced charges of sedition and military disobedience, with possible jail sentences of up to five years if they failed to report for work.