T E N E R I F E ’ S O N LY Issue 682
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W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R
10 December 2010 - 16 December 2010
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Airport strikers are threatened with jail Tenerife tourism sector hit by a resounding 400m-euro blow A WILDCAT strike by Spanish air traffic controllers will probably have cost the tourism industry around 400 million euros, and could lead to criminal prosecutions. The airport workers including those at Tenerife South - called in sick enmasse last Friday, shutting down the country’s entire airspace at the start of one of Spain’s busiest holiday weekends. It caught everyone by surprise and their shock tactics, in protest over working hours and benefits, caused chaos for hundreds of thousands of people. It also cost Tenerife’s tourism and leisure industries a total of 17.5 million euros, according to Ricardo Melchior, President of the Cabildo. He defended the Spanish Government’s stance, but criticised the 20 hours it took ministers to respond, and condemned the strikers’ action as “disastrous and without any social conscience”. Unfortunately, Friday is a “changeover day” for tourists in and out of Tenerife South, and the strike left bewildered travellers stranded, there and in the UK. And with Gatwick airport closed for two days the previous week, the two episodes had a serious affect on the tourism sector
over here. But the controllers’ disagreement has won little sympathy with the Spanish public because they earn phenomenal salaries averaging 200,000 euros (£170,000) per year. José Manuel Bermúdez, Tenerife’s Tourism Minister, said 96,000 passengers were affected by the strike throughout the Canaries. There were 45,612 at Tenerife - 33,312 in the South airport and other 12,300 in the North. Bermudez also said that losses because of delayed arrivals totalled 3m euros, and that there were 7.5m euros lost in cancellations. These numbers added up to a five-million-euro loss from airlines, and tour operators being hit for two million. He added that on Friday alone, some 6,000 tourists
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had to be relocated for the night. Ashotel vice-president Juan Antonio Rosado confirmed the hotel trade had also suffered, with the loss of overnight stays adding up to 40,000 and accounting for 1.5m euros. He also said that hoteliers were considering whether to take legal action against the air controllers individually or jointly with (CEHAT), the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation. Air services returned to normal on Sunday, a day after the government declared a 15-day state of alert. It placed the controllers under military command, with the threat of jail terms if they refused to get flights operating again and clear airports jam-packed
with angry passengers. It did the trick because, hours after the order was
issued at an emergency Cabinet meeting of the Government, strikers were
returning to work and Spain was given the green light from Europe’s air traffic control agency to reopen air space. But the chaos served up yet another headache for the Socialist government, floundering at the centre of Europe’s debt crisis and struggling to overcome recession as it trails badly in the polls with elections scheduled for 2012. Juan Iranzo, head of Institute for Economic Studies, told the business daily Expansion: “The unjustifiable stoppage of Spanish air traffic came on one of the high points for the tourism sector, with public holidays on both Monday and Wednesday leading many people to take a five-day break. “The stoppage will mean a Continued on page 3.