Spanish air traffic staff are due to launch a second wave of strikes over the weekend after previous industrial action in June, the nation's traffic control service Enaire has warned, Sputnik reported.
The USCA controllers' union plans a series of walkouts for Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12, as well as for July 25-26. The strikes will disrupt flights from 10 a.m. to 13:00 p.m. local time (GMT 08:00-11:00) on Saturdays and from 17:00 p.m. to 20:00 p.m. on Sundays, Enaire said.
The trade union reportedly demands the reinstatement of a controller who was fired in Santiago de Compostela for his role in 2010 strikes, which closed the Spanish airspace.
Airlines said they would enact emergency plans to shield the industry from the disrupting effect of the walkout. In its turn, the Spanish authorities said they hoped that airlines would be able to operate some 80 percent of services during the weekends.
The strikes come during the peak summer flight season when around 80 percent of foreign tourists come to Spain by air, the traffic control service said, stressing the importance of uninterrupted flight scheduled to the country's economy, that draws some 15 percent of its GDP income from tourism.