Brits' holidays at risk as Spanish air traffic controllers threaten strike action

There are growing concerns that Britons’ summer holidays in Spain are at risk thanks to threats of strike action by air traffic controllers.

Workers at the Barcelona Control Centre has reportedly said strikes could take place in July as part of an ongoing row over staffing levels.

Spain’s air-traffic controllers’ union, USCA, has warned that staff are overstretched due to a shortage of trained controllers, forcing them to work extra shifts and irregular shift patterns.

The walkouts would apparently affect flights landing at popular tourist hotspots including Alicante, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza.

According to The Standard, the first strike had been set to start today but was suspended after positive talks with the government-owned air control firm Enaire.

However, one spokesman for staff at the control centre reportedly said he didn’t expect a deal to be reached.

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If strikes do take place, they’re expected to happen in July or August – at the peak of the summer when tourists flock to Spain.

Airline bosses including Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary and Willie Walsh, chief executive at British Airways’ parent company IAG, were set to gather in Brussels in Wednesday to call for action to avoid the “collapse” of air traffic-control in Europe this summer.