Iberia to Cancel 118 Flights on 29th December
December 27th, 2011
As a result of strike action by the pilots union SEPLA, Iberia are to cancel 118 flights on 29th December, which is 36% of those originally planned for this date, and which are those not covered by the Ministry of Development’s minimum services mandate.
The Spanish airline said in a statement that it would cancel 10% of long haul flights, 38% of medium-haul flights and 43% of domestic flights. However, Cinco Dias reported that the company stressed that this strike will not affect flights operated by Air Nostrum, Vueling or code-sharing flights operated by other companies, nor Canary and Balearic Islands connections, which are 100% protected by the minimum services agreement.
“All customers who have purchased their tickets for any of the cancelled flights through travel agents should contact them so that they can make any necessary changes or refunds in a timely manner”, said the airline statement.
On the other hand, those who purchased their tickets through www.iberia.com will receive a message with information about any disruption to their flight and any alternative travel options, “where feasible”. The company will also facilitate exchanges and refunds of tickets for flights cancelled by the strike, if the customer requests it, and has set up a help-line phone number (902 100 988) in order to expedite consultations and procedures related to the strike.
The strike on 29th December will be the second and last day of demonstrations called for by the pilots union, after the first one which took place on Sunday, 18th December, and affected hundreds of flights and a total of 12,000 passengers.
On the first day of the strikes, the company claimed to have re-routed “almost all” of the travellers affected by cancelled flights, while all other routes operated “normally”, thanks to the contingency plan authorised by the carrier, consisting of agreements with 30 transport companies, 27 airlines, plus Renfe and Alsa.
The airline expects the second day of the strikes to proceed with the same normality as the first.
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