More Flights Cancelled at Alicante-Elche Airport Due to EasyJet Strike

The final day of the EasyJet cabin crew strike has once again led to flight cancellations at Alicante-Elche airport, where the British airline has one of its bases. With four aircraft based there, the airline is the second largest in air traffic at Alicante, thus the strike has impacted its operations.

Eight flights were cancelled this Friday, nine if considering a flight that was supposed to land past midnight in Alicante but did not depart from the UK. Due to the lack of cabin crew because of the strike, the airline has had to cancel several connections to its European destinations.

As a result, flights to Bristol and Southend in the UK, Basel in Switzerland, and Lyon in France will not depart. Their respective arrivals at the airport are also cancelled, including the flight from Belfast, as well as the one from Southend, which was supposed to land in Alicante at 00:15 on Friday, according to air operations data.

These nine cancelled flights add to the wave of suspensions the company has had to implement in Alicante to meet the minimum service levels set by Transport, at 88%. On Thursday, eight flights were also cancelled, while on Wednesday, around six flights were cancelled, resulting in over 20 flights cancelled during the strike, including departures and arrivals.

The union that called the strike, Unión Sindical Obrera, claims that Spanish cabin crew are the lowest paid, with differences of 30% compared to Portugal or 200% compared to Switzerland.

The strike called by the union has been made "in a context of deadlock in negotiations, an absolute disagreement regarding working conditions," and they criticise that the economic proposals "from the company within the framework of the III Collective Agreement are insufficient and far from the socio-economic reality of the country."

675 cabin crew members from EasyJet's four bases in Spain: Barcelona, Málaga, Alicante and Palma de Mallorca, have been called to strike. The union insists on "equalising working and salary conditions in our country with those of other European countries where the airline operates."

EasyJet stated on Thursday that all its employees have local contracts under the legislation of each country and market practices, so conditions cannot be compared between different countries.

The airline has emphasised that it takes its responsibilities as an employer "very seriously" and continues to receive "a high number of applications" for cabin crew positions in Spain, "which is a testament to the competitive conditions" it offers in the market.